John 13:1-5 (What Jesus' Love Does For Us)

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Return to the gospel of John this morning. It's been since August since we were in the gospel of John It doesn't feel like it's been that long

But we are back and we are going to be entering in to one of the final sections of the gospel of John this morning

It's the farewell discourse. It's the upper room discourse. It's where the last 24 hours of Jesus's life are

Zoomed in and a magnifying glass in these hours are in multiple chapters in the gospel of John John 12 as you remember was six days before Passover It was in early to mid -april in AD 30 and there was some tumultuous

Events that we covered last year in John chapter 12. You remember that Mary anointed

Jesus as king She anointed him with oil in the same manner that the Kings and the priests and the prophets were anointed in the days of old

And it's interesting to me that in Matthew and in Mark Jesus is anointed on the head and in Luke and in John Jesus is anointed by Mary on the feet and the way that I Describe that is that from head to toe?

He is the anointed one He is the one who will have a total perfect kingship and a total perfect kingdom

We have to remember after he was anointed he came Or he was in the the town of Bethany with Lazarus and his sisters and a crowd came and that crowd was was getting to know

Him and and they wanted to see Lazarus and they wanted to see the great miracle that it happened That was five days before his death

That he spent that day in Bethany four days before his death He enters into the city of Jerusalem Just like the

Passover lamb in the Old Testament four days before it was slaughtered It entered into the house of the father.

Well in the same way Jesus four days before his crucifixion entered into Jerusalem which is known as the city of God which houses the temple or the house of God So Jesus came into the city

And he came into the city riding on a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah chapter 9 and he came riding on a donkey

Fulfilling the fact that he is the true Solomon the one who rides into the city and assumes the kingship the kingdom that will never end that same day

After he rides into the city and they wave palm branches in front of him and they welcome him into the town the

Gentiles begin coming to him, which is a great example of Who Jesus's kingdom is for his kingdom is not for just the

Jews His kingdom is not for just the first century folks who are standing in front of him His kingdom is for every tribe and every tongue and every nation

His kingdom was for adults and for screaming children his kingdom

It's for the Gentiles It's for the world for the for men and women from every tribe tongue and nation and we see the

Gentiles in John chapter 12 streaming to Jesus Immediately after this he prophesies about his upcoming death and then he retreats again

Back into Bethany where he will spend a couple of days with Bethany as his headquarters

He goes back and he leaves as the anointed King as the conquering King is the kingdom -building

King as the Suffering King and as the king who will rule over all of his elect Jew and Gentile He went away at the end of John 12

At the end of his fourth day before his death and he goes back to Bethany to sleep

Now John doesn't tell us what Jesus is doing on three days before his death and two days before his death and even one day

Up until that point John doesn't tell us John just fast forwards from John chapter 12 to the last day of Jesus's life

But Jesus was doing things in that time He spent those days in Jerusalem He spent those days teaching and giving parables and we'll mention a couple of those things in a moment

But the main thing that Jesus was doing was he was making sure that the city was furious enough to kill him

Because Jesus had an hour that was coming He had an hour where they were gonna turn on him and crucify him and Jesus was doing the kinds of things

That if you wanted to die That you'd be doing in the first century So that when we get to John 13 verse 1

We have 24 hours Before he is crucified Now I find that amazing to me that John 13 14 15 16 17 18 and 19 or 24 hours in the life of Jesus So much of the gospel is focused on his last day

Because what is John's purpose So that we may believe that he is the Christ the

Son of God and by believing in him We will have a life in his name that last day when he

Prepares himself for the cross when he approaches the cross when he's nailed to the cross when he's taken down from the cross

When he rises from the dead on the third day, that is the point that John is getting us to get at He's wanting us to look at Christ and to see that he is our only hope our only salvation

So today as we get back into the gospel of John, I don't want us to have very ambitious goals today

I Want us just to rest in Christ to behold

Christ to see the beauty of his majesty and I want us to see what

Christ's love does for his people and we see that so beautifully in this passage

We actually see four things that the love of Christ does for his people number one. It loves us till the very end

Number two, he rules over us with unimaginable love number three and in love

He provides for us and number four in his love. He ordains us for service That's the so what what difference does this make?

What am I supposed to do about it section and he gives us that So if you will turn with me to John chapter 13

Verses 1 through 5 as we look at what Christ's love has done for you and done for me Let us read the text together

John chapter 13 verses 1 through 5 Verse 1 begins this way now before the feast of Passover Jesus knowing that his hour had come

That he would depart out of this world to the father Having loved his own who were in the world.

He loved them to the end and During supper the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon to betray him

Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and That he had come forth from God and was going back to God got up from supper

And he laid aside his garments Taking a towel he girded himself

Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them

With the towel with which he was girded the Word of the Lord Father God, thank you so much for sending your one and only

Son Christ Lord I pray that today as we get back into the gospel of John and as we View the things that Jesus is doing that we would see how his love has provided for us today

Lord, we see how his great love is never -ending for us. Would we see how his great love rules over us?

Would we see how his love has purified us and ordained us for your service

Lord? Would we see? Your great love that you have given to your Saints Lord with that love never be old or stale or dusty Lord Would we see that love and would we rejoice in it

Lord? Would we recognize that the only reason we're here is because of the love of God Lord? Do we recognize that in Jesus Christ that we will never be separated from the love of God?

That there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ because of the love of God Lord would we walk out of this room rejoicing because we know

God's love Because it was so good that it was poured out even on to his enemies like us

It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen Now again,

John doesn't give us all the details between John 12 and John 13 He's speeding us forward to the last day of Jesus's life but I thought it might be helpful if we did see some of the

Context before we move forward and see the things that Jesus is doing on those days again on the fourth day

He goes into the city He rides into Jerusalem and the Gentiles are coming to him and he is teaching them about his death and his

Resurrection that is going to be coming and then he retreats back to Bethany on Monday night and Then he goes to sleep purely exhausted after a long day of ministry

Tuesday morning he would have woke up in Bethany at Lazarus's home at Mary and Martha's home and he would have probably awoke

This is my imagination at this point. I don't have a thus saith the Lord here But I'm helping us try to picture it.

He would have woken up with Lazarus newly resurrected reclining at the table

He would have woken up to Mary saying Jesus. What are you gonna teach next? He would have woken up to Martha clanging the pots and pans around in the kitchen still busy

Bumbling furiously to make Jesus's favorite meal. I don't know what that was, but I can imagine this beautiful piece of toast with avocado and a fried egg on top of it

After breakfast

Jesus leaves Mary and Martha's house and he and his disciples go again to Jerusalem and The first thing that they do when they get to Jerusalem is they overturn the money changers tables

Jesus chases them out with a whip and he cleanses the temple and the point of all of this is because Jesus comes to a city

That bore him no fruit if you remember Monday He rode into the city on a donkey and they laid only leaves at his feet

Leaves with no fruit He comes to a temple that bore him no fruit and he cleanses it and he chases out the fruitless merchants who had polluted the house of Almighty God After some teaching on that day

After lingering in the city on that day Jesus retires again to Bethany. That was the end of Tuesday of his final week

Wednesday morning comes and Jesus skips breakfast He wakes up early he goes immediately back to the city the text even tells us that Jesus was hungry

So he curses the fig tree and you're thinking to yourself I've been angry when

I didn't have my breakfast But why did Jesus curse the fig tree? the same theme

That we saw just a second ago a town that offered him only leaves a temple that bore him no fruit

Now in a lived -out parable Jesus curses the tree that was only filled with leaves

That was bearing no fruit This fig tree was a living representation of the spiritual depravity of Jerusalem of Jerusalem This tree was supposed to be healthy bearing fruit

Just as Jerusalem was supposed to be healthy vibrant bearing fruit for God and yet both were withered

So Christ curses the tree to show that Israel and Judah and Jerusalem were under the wrath of God and that soon

Jerusalem would totally wither in just the same way as this fig tree It was a sign for Jerusalem That after years and years of not bearing him fruit

It would be cut off and thrown into the fire No, that's mid -morning.

Jesus continues toward Jerusalem. He's accosted by the city leadership They hate him at this point

And the reason that they hate him is multiple years of him calling them out for their idolatry But the most important thing that most recently happened in their purview and in their memory was he just cleansed the temple

I believe that he cleansed the temple twice in his ministry. We've talked about that in a former sermon

I'm not gonna recover that ground here today, but he cleanses the temple That's their place of business

It'd be like someone coming to your business kicking you out of your office chair and saying I can do this you are fired

So he comes to their temple he cast them out of it for their sinful deeds of darkness and they hated him for it and They were angry and one of the things that they did is they got together the

Pharisees and the Sadducees who typically hated each other and They said dude, what's your what's your best question that we can ask the

Jesus so that we can stump him and the Sadducees get Pharisees like yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one Who's good?

Who's who's gonna be this man's wife in the resurrection remember the brother who married a woman and then he died and she had to marry his brother and then it goes on for seven brothers and the

Sadducees come up to Jesus and say whose wife is she gonna be in the resurrection and Jesus dismantles their ignorance

And he says God is the God of the living and not the dead and he quotes from Deuteronomy because the

Sadducees only believed in the first five books of the Bible the Pharisees believed in all the prophets and the

Psalms and the histories and the first five books the Sadducees only believed in the first five books and he proves to them the resurrection from Deuteronomy and their mouths were silenced and Then the

Pharisees come up and they're like we've got one for you Should we pay tax to Caesar?

Yes or no? Why after 2 ,000 years our tax is still so contentious

Have they always been that way? Maybe I think And Jesus takes the coin he says whose image is on the coin and They say

Caesar and he says render into Caesar the things that are Caesars and render unto God's Why did he say that because God's image has been placed on you

God's image has been imprinted on you. So give to God What belongs to God you belong to God, but you're not giving yourself to him

Again silenced and they go away sulking and they form a murder squad and they start getting their plans together and they start actively trying to Kill and crucify

Jesus because he humiliated them in public and as they leave

Jesus pronounces seven Destructive woes upon the city doom upon the city seven

God's perfect. Holy number meaning that their doom their destruction is going to happen

By the will of God and it's going to happen imminently He calls them

Vipers He says woe upon Jerusalem the city that kills the prophets upon you upon this generation

Will all of the wrath of God fall from Abel all the way to Zechariah? God's wrath was coming upon this people and in the most clear and comprehensive

Prophecy that Jesus has ever given in Matthew 24.

This is near the end of Wednesday He says that not one stone will be left upon another in the temple.

It will be thrown down The city will be destroyed it will be burned the

Romans which is who he was talking about will come in and Turn that place into a heaping pile of rubble and ash pile and It would fall within a single generation.

That's what he was doing on Wednesday and You can imagine the amount of vitriol in the amount of hatred and the amount of angst and anger

Murderous rage that the Pharisees would have had towards Jesus after he stood publicly in the city and denounced them with seven successive woes and As he's walking away.

He's saying this generation will not pass away until everything that I just said comes to pass. That's Matthew 24 34

The Old Covenant era was gonna be ended It was gonna be taken away from the Jews and it was being given to a people who would bear

God's fruit It would be given to tax collectors and sinners and people like you and I And a new covenant era would begin

Now you can imagine the disciples are still confused their head is still spinning They're not sure what is going on at this point.

But as they walk back to Bethany that night from the Mount of Olives It would have been a very quiet somber trip

They had already said Jesus look at all these buildings. Really these buildings are gonna fall You can imagine their disappointment as people who loved their temple they would have woken up Thursday morning probably not

Understanding that this was the last day that they were gonna be at Mary and Martha's house the last day

They were gonna be at Lazarus's house They woke up for breakfast that morning

Pot still clanging because you know Martha Mary still wanting to be taught but if you could have been there

You can imagine Peter impulsively not knowing what to do with the moment Just throwing anything that he can say because it's quiet and he doesn't like it

That would be like me. I don't quiet But if you could have been there and seen

Jesus and saw the foreboding Look upon his face and you could have seen that the weight that he was carrying that this would be the last

Time that he would enjoy fellowship with his friend Lazarus. It'd be the last Conversation that he could have reclining at that table would be the last breakfast that he could have there in that house

It'd be the last night of comfort that he would spend Because the next night he would be hanging upon a cross

The weight of this was coming to bear on Jesus and we see that in John chapter 13

Because he says the hour has come Now as they left they packed their bags.

They said their last goodbyes again I don't think the disciples would have understood the gravity of what was happening here Matthew tells us what happens next.

How do they get to the upper room? How do they get there where John 13 begins? This is what it says in Matthew 26

Now on the first day of unleavened bread, this is Thursday morning The disciples came to Jesus and asked where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the

Passover? And he said go into the city They're walking towards the city, but he sends them on ahead

To a certain man and say to him the teacher says my time is near.

I am to keep the Passover at your house with my Disciples mark adds a little bit of extra color here

It's very rare that mark gives more details than Matthew But here he does he says on the first day of unleavened bread when the

Passover lamb was being sacrificed His disciples said to him. Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the

Passover? And he sent two of his disciples and he said go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water follow him and Wherever he enters say to the owner of the house the teacher says where is my guest room in which

I may eat the Passover with my disciples and He himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready prepared for us there and Then the disciples went out and they came to the city and they found it just as he had told them and They prepared the

Passover now before we get to what Jesus does for his disciples

I want to give you one more thing about this passage that I think is Fascinating because Jesus sends out two people two people ahead of him and he sends them into the wicked city

And he tells them to prepare an upper room. And if you think back into your Old Testament history what that might be

Accomplishing or what it might be imaging. It is a fascinating point of discovery

You remember it was Joshua after Moses died who took over the reins as commander of Jerusalem or of Israel's armies and he's the one who sent in Joshua chapter 2 to spies into the city of Jericho And when he sent those two spies into the city of Jericho a woman named

Rahab Welcomed them into the house and provided for them in the upper room and She hung her red cord in the window preparing for the destruction of Jericho and when it came she was spared

By Almighty God Jesus is doing the exact same thing here

Jesus his name in Hebrew is Yeshua, which means Joshua Jesus sends out two spies into the pagan city of Jerusalem that have been corrupted and become just like a

Canaanite city of old Jesus tells him to go to the stranger who's gonna allow them to come up into the upper room who's given access to them and who's gonna protect them and who's gonna guard them and safeguard them and then soon

Jerusalem is going to fall in the same way that Jericho not one stones gonna be left upon another and anyone

Who is covered by the red scarlet blood of Christ will be saved like Rahab By Jesus the cord of his gospel

Will be what saves you and I Jesus is preparing his people for a new conquest

Jerusalem had become corrupted. He's gonna set up new Jerusalem now The Old Covenant kingdom had become thoroughly perverted like Canaan of old now he's gonna set up a new kingdom that will never end a

Kingdom that will save sinners prostitutes and tax collectors like Rahab like you like me a

Kingdom that will destroy everyone who opposes him Jesus is not only the true

Joshua. He's the one bringing the true and better kingdom Now you may be asking why do

I share all of this? Well, if you're asking that you're new Because this is pretty normal But I share this because I think it's essential context for us to understand what's happening in the moments that are leading up to John 13

Jesus is leading his people into the upper room not to rest not to have a siesta but to prepare for conquest

To prepare for the imminent destruction of Jerusalem and to prepare for the salvation of all of his

Rahab's that will come into the kingdom Of God that is the mood. That is the ethos of what is going on in this moment

Now with that introduction I Want us to just very briefly enter into John 13

And I want us to look at four things that Jesus is going to do for his disciples The first is that he is going to love them to the very end

It says in John 13 1 Now before the feast of the Passover Jesus knowing that his hour had come that he would depart out of this world to the father having loved his own

Who were in the world he loved them to the end. I love that phrase It says that he knew his hour had come which meant that he knew that it was soon where they were going to be

Hanging him upon a cross where they were gonna be crucifying him murdering him that their very reason that he came to glorify

God through his being Lifted high and up that that moment is coming And even in the midst of that He's loving them to the very end

You and I can't even imagine what Christ was going through There's no person that can imagine what

Jesus Christ was going through There have been people who've suffered physically There have been people in prisoner of war camps.

There have been people with debilitating diseases There have been people who've suffered mightily. Jesus was not the only person who was crucified on a

Roman cross But there is no one Who understands the spiritual anguish that Christ was going through on the cross for every?

Moment of his eternal infinite life. He had spent in the presence of Almighty God There was never a moment where he felt separation

Division or distance this very thing that you and I live with every day this distance from God.

He had never felt it and When the wrath of the Father was poured out unto the

Son He experienced for the first time the turning away of God's face

And in that moment it says he loved us to the end before his humiliation before his exaltation

He loved us Now you ask yourself what kind of love is that? Well, I will tell you it's not the kind of love that overlooks sin

It's not the kind of love that that love is or overlooks sin or accepts you as you are

It's not a veneer of niceness with faux affections. That's given by liberals with high tolerance for everyone who agrees with them

It is a sacrificial Love that Christ was giving Paul says in Galatians 2 20.

I have been crucified with Christ It's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me in the life that I now live

I live by the I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and who gave himself up for me

His love did not overlook us. His love did not placate us. His love did not pacify us in our sin

He loved us by giving himself up for us that while we were yet sinners.

He died for us That's what Romans 5 8 says. He didn't die for good and moral people

He didn't die for people who are basically good. He died for wicked rebellious sinful creatures

For God shows his love for us in it while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

He died for the unrighteous He died for the broken He died for the rebels who were at odds with God enemies of his

Holy State. He died for you and me What tremendous good news that is because you don't have to clean yourself up to come to him

While you were a sinner, he died for you. Look at yourself in the mirror You're not getting any better when it comes to an infinite

God You're not gonna be able to perfectly purify yourself to come to him And the good news is he died for you in spite of you as he was hanging on the cross

He died for you and he loved you to the bitter end When his when he cried out and said my

God my God Why have you forsaken me and he breathed his last breath.

He loved you until then He became the perfect offering the perfect sacrifice the true high priest who loved you and mediated a new covenant for you and If he loved you to the bitter end, there's not a moment

Not a millisecond not a nanosecond and not whatever the next iteration of that is

That Christ did not love you, which means that if you're in Christ There is never a moment where the love of God fails

There is never a moment where you can look at yourself and say I'm too bad Or I'm too wicked or I'm too sinful or I'm too this or I'm too that if Christ loved you to the very end

His love is available for you until the very end What good news that is?

the second thing Not only did he love us to the end But by his great love he rules all things

He rules over us and that is good news It says in verse 3 of John chapter 13

Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hand and that he had come forth from God and was going back

To God the key phrase in that verse is he gave all things into Christ's hands

In the same way that he loved us till the end Jesus got everything in the end

It may look like to us that Jesus went down in a fantastic defeat like a plane That's that's going over the

Bermuda Triangle and splashing into the water, but that's not it in his moment of greatest defeat He had his greatest victory.

He ascended to the right hand of the father and God gave him everything everything

Has been put under his rule and authority. Do you remember Matthew 28 18? After he rises from the dead and he makes this glorious pronouncement all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth

Now go to the nations that I own and make them disciples of me that means that we have no authority praise

God for that When you begin to study yourself You actually don't want very much authority because you'll use that authority and twist it in mangled ways and you'll mess things up Praise God that we don't have authority because we had authority

We would have the power to lose the gift that God has given us. He gave us a gift by his authority

Therefore it's it can't be taken back. It can't be lost. I Think this is tremendous news.

Also in the time that we live in our world doesn't have any authority The police the local government while we're to obey them they ultimately don't have any authority

The state the nation the UN the elites at Davos if you're following that All in their machinations they play games, but they have no authority when it comes to God all authority

All rule all power all matter all men all women all nations have been put into the hands of Jesus Christ You will either be

Submitted to Jesus or you will be an enemy of the state You will either obey

Jesus or you will reject him you either turn to him or you will be against him You either be held in the loving hands of Christ or you will be put under the pulverizing feet of King Jesus The question is not if Christ has all authority.

The question is will you and I submit? Well, we find ourself under his loving reign

Will we believe the gospel will we keep his commandments will we repent when we fall short

Will we grow into the image of Christ? Will we enter into his joy and his rest?

Or will we be like those who are left weeping and gnashing their teeth

This Jesus not only loves us, but he has all authority over us The question is what side?

Are you on his rule will be a delight?

to his people and His rule will be a terror to his enemies.

It matters infinitely What side of Christ you're on? That's the second

The third is that his love will purify his people Verse 4 says it like this Jesus got up from supper and he laid aside his garments and taking a towel

He girded himself His love purifies us

Now there's a lot that we need to cover in foot washing and we're I promise you we are not going to wash anyone's feet next week

Have you been in a church where that's happened? It's rough It's rough you've been a pastor in a church where they told you that that was your job for that day

It's rough We won't be doing that next week

But we will be covering what foot washing means and what it signified in those times We'll be doing that next week.

So we're not gonna go into that a tremendous amount this week But what I'd like to do is I'd like to look at this moment from a slightly different angle

Just to give some context of what Jesus is doing He is the highest and the greatest and the most infinite in that moment.

He's the rabbi He's the leader. He's the teacher he's the

Son of God and What Jesus is doing is he's moving from the infinitely high position and status that he is and he is going down to the level of dishonorable slave in Order to love and care for his people.

This was an extreme act of humility Now if you're a slave, this wasn't an extreme act of humility

It would have been normal for the infinite Son of God to get down and wash his disciples feet

Was the most extreme and yet beautiful message of how Christ will serve and purify his people and I believe

Beyond just the action of washing their feet He's demonstrating to us the gospel here, but we have to slow down in order to see it

He's demonstrating to us the gospel Now Jesus is not bothered by dirty feet.

I don't like dirty feet, but that's not the point here The point is that the cross is hanging over this narrative the point is that the cross is

Hanging over the very beginning of it says he'll love them to the end. What is the end the cross? All authority will be put into Jesus hands.

When does he get it after the cross the cross is hanging? like the thickest fog over this narrative so that when

Christ disrobes and Wraps himself with a towel and washes his disciples feet.

He is showcasing to us the power and the majesty and the glory of the gospel He's disrobing as a way of foreshadowing that he will be stripped

Into us in 24 hours. He will be stripped of his clothing He lays aside his robe because it would be raffled off by Roman soldiers in just 24 hours from this moment

He's entering into humility because on the cross he would experience his greatest humiliation. He's disrobing

To showcase to us the coming flaying that will happen at the hands of the

Roman vectors 40 Lashes with this apparatus called a cat of nine tails where the where the strips of leather would have bone and glass

Embedded at the end so that when it wraps around his back and around his legs and around his arms

It would rip flesh and rip meat as it came. He was being stripped of his clothing and stripped of his flesh

For you and as he stood up as a lowly servant as a criminal

And they asked him to carry the rough -cut cross. Have you ever carried a rough -cut board and got a splinter in your finger?

You got a splinter and a finger that was covered with flesh Imagine a splinter in the meat of a man whose nerve endings are exposed

And he carried that cross Until the moment he collapsed under the weight of it Simon of Cyrene bore it the rest of the way up the hill they nailed him to a cross and They treated him like human vermin

When he got down on the floor and he washed his disciples feet. He put himself in that level of humility

The only thing worse than that is crucifixion He's showing us something.

He's showing us why he came he didn't come to have a glorious triumphant death

He came to die On a cross where they would pierce his hands and feet he washed their feet with water on The cross his blood

Would cover his perfect feet Washing it in his blood 24 hours before Jesus went through the most horrific and Spiritual death that we could imagine he showcased to us the gospel

All of that points to it every bit of it How he was stripped how he was humiliated how he washed and purified his disciples all of it points to him

And it points beyond him to what he's done for us What has

Christ done for you? He stripped you of your flesh He's knelt down in humility to wash you in his blood to purify you and Then he stood up and he's clothed you in his own garment

This is more than just washing feet. That's why when we do foot washing services, we are minimizing the point

The point is not that we serve people In a very intimate way in ways that make us uncomfortable.

Although the gospel requires that The point is that Christ is living out a representation of his gospel

Where he would love them to the bitter end where he would give to them all things because he's sovereign over all things and where He would wash them perfectly in his blood white as snow though our sins being like scarlet

His blood has not just cleansed our feet and it's not just temporary. His blood has washed us permanently white as snow

That's the third aspect that he is foreshadowing to us the purifying work of the gospel that will come

The fourth and the final aspect in this passage is that he will ordain us He not only loves us to the bitter end

He not only is sovereign over all things and he not only purifies us, but he has purchased us

To live for him and to work for him. He's ordained us ordaining

Someone means that you're setting them apart for a work He's not set you apart for nothing oh

I wish American evangelical Christianity could repent of that That we're saved just to go to heaven.

That's not what it is. We're not just saved to get out of hell free card We're not just saved to pass go and get $200 as we enter past Peter at the pearly gates

We are saved set apart ordained for a purpose to go out and do the mission of God to the nations

It says in verse 5

Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with a towel

With which he was girded again, we're gonna cover foot washing next week, but we have to look under the surface of this and See what

Christ is doing. He is ordaining us He's ordaining those men who were in that room with him and he is by extension ordaining us

He is calling us to something setting us apart for something moving us out of our old way of life and moving us into this new way of life where we're going to be priests of God forever and why can

I say that because we have to look back at the Exodus We have to look back at the Old Testament if we don't we will miss what

Jesus is doing Jesus is not doing something novel and new he's doing something quite old that goes all the way back to Exodus where the

Original priests were installed and ordained by God and he's following the exact same pattern

Let me read this to you Maybe I'm the only person in this room who finds joy in these details

But it is glorious when you see it Exodus 29 verses 1 through 3

Now this is what you shall do. This is God talking to the people of Israel This is what you shall do to consecrate them

To minister as priests, this is Aaron and his sons. How do you ordain

Aaron and his sons to be priest? Follow along take one young bull and two rams without blemish and Unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil and Unleavened wafers spread with oil and you shall make them a fine wheat flour and you shall put them in one basket and Present them in a basket along with the bull and the two

Rams the oil is gonna be sacrificed to God the bread is gonna be sacrificed to God and the ram is gonna be sacrificed to God this threefold sacrifice is exactly what

Jesus has already showed us The oil in John 12, he was anointed for his death

The oil is for the sacrifice he said I am the bread of life and did you know

That at the beginning of this passage it said on the first day of unleavened bread

Jesus is in the time period where there's no yeast allowed in Israel unleavened bread

Jesus is being prepared for his sacrifice as the true unleavened bread What about the ram the unblemished spotless ram?

Well, what is Christ? But the true and spotless sacrifice every element of the ordination of priest is here as The true high priest is preparing to mediate for us a brand new covenant.

Let's keep going gets even better verses 4 through 8 in Exodus then you shall bring

Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water and You shall take the garments off of them and Put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastplace and gird him

Uses that word in John doesn't it? With the skillfully woven band of the ephod and you shall set a turban on his head

But a holy crown on the turban and then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him and you

Shall bring his sons and put tunics on them And you shall gird them with sashes

Aaron and his sons and bind caps on them and they shall have the priesthood by a

Perpetual statute so that you will ordain Aaron and his sons if you want to ordain a priest forever

You bring oil Unleavened bread unblemished ram Christ has done all three of those already and then you wash them

Christ takes off his robe like Aaron He washes his brothers like Aaron did for his sons and Then he reclothes them in priestly robes in This moment

Jesus only washed their feet, but he's showing them something because very soon

Christ is going to wash them with his spirit and with his blood and The old flesh is gonna be cut away from them.

They're gonna be disrobed and They're gonna be re -robed in the robes of Jesus Christ It says that we have been clothed with Christ We should not see that just as Jesus provides for us when we're cold outside Or that Jesus gives us a poncho when it's raining on sad and gloomy days we should see this as That our old rags have been torn off of us and we've been clothed as priests

And if you're a priest There comes obligations Because if you've been ordained as a priest you have to act like a priest

You have to live like a priest you have to serve God like a priest Christ and his love has not only loved you till the end

And this is why I say it's not just I love you just as you are and I I will allow you to do nothing

He loved him to the end and what is our end that we may glorify God and enjoy him forever and we may serve him with joy in our hearts

He claimed everything is his own. That means us. That means he's not okay with us sitting on the sidelines of our faith

Believing only easy believism. He's gonna make us into something a priest He's purified us not for no reason double negative

He's purified us for a purpose and that purpose is that we would serve him all our days as a priest of the

Living God Now you may be asking yourself What does

God's love require of me Jesus has done all these great things for me. He's loved me. He's called me.

He's purified me What is it gonna require of me? Well, I've got a very simple solution a very simple help

I've got a very practical thing that I've been excited all week to be able to share with you When you look at the Bible and you see what

Jesus has done for you and you want to know how you can serve him Just do back to him what he's already done for you

If he's loved you if he's loved you to the end

Then dear friend love him till the end of your life If he served you

Serve him if he's purified you live in purity Everything that Christ has done for us can be done back to him not perfectly

We still struggle with our sin but intentionally There's no throwing our hands up in the kingdom of God There's no it's tough and I don't like it in the kingdom of God When people say that they struggle with their sin

You have to ask yourself if you've ever said that am I really struggling or am I giving in to it?

Nine times out of ten when someone has told me they're struggling with their sin. I don't see any sweat being broken.

I Don't see any struggle It makes us feel better to say we're struggling with our sin

But what we're really saying often all of us in this room me you everyone is when we say we're struggling with our sin

We're giving into it Christ has died to make you into something so much better than that Christ has died to pour out his love on you

To claim you as his own to purify you and to set you apart for a noble purpose

Did you read about Aaron? They put a crown on his head Do you know that Christ has set you apart to be kings and queens in this world?

Ambassadors of Jesus Christ to live with the dignity and the honor of the gospel Dear brothers and sisters when you leave here today, you don't leave with your head hung low

I don't care what your sin is. You don't leave here with shame on your heart and the residue of guilt stuck to you

I was just doing my bathroom. This is a great analogy and I sprayed that Ridiculous foam that's supposed to fill in the holes, you know, and I forgot not to touch it

It's still stuck to my finger That's what guilt does to you When you sin guilt finds a way to bind itself to your soul and you walk around carrying it for years sometimes decades

Be free in Christ Because he's bought you and paid for you and he's delivered you into so much more

Hold your head high in the love of Christ serve with all your might in the love of Christ and Do it to the very end, let's pray

Lord Jesus We thank you so much that you love us We thank you so much that you have not abandoned us

Lord We thank you that you proved your love for us and that while we were yet sinners you died for us And you went all the way to the cross with joy in your heart

And you never turned back and you never looked to the left or to the right Lord I pray that you would bring that kind of love into our hearts

Lord, I pray that we would taste and see that you are good and that in that knowledge of you that in that beauty of you

That word it would flow into our hearts it would flow into our hands and it would cause us to serve you as priest

There's a lot of hurting and broken people in the church Lord, would you raise up those of us who were able to be priests today

To mend the wounds of the broken to heal the hurts of those who are who are down trodden

Lord, would you call some of us today who are living in pain living in bitterness living in rejection living in abandonment living in anxiety?

Lord, would you calls us today with courage and our hearts based on what Christ has done for us in his great love to stand up out of that To leave depression at our feet to leave anxiety at our feet to leave the chains of Abandonment or the things that we've done the awful things that we've done that no one else knows about Lord really lay those at your feet and would we live in the love of Christ and Lord, would you allow this church?

to be a spotlight of your love and Would you allow us to leave here with the love of Christ?

To tell the world about this great King Lord, would you help us because we're weak