In the sermon, Jason Dohm discusses the act of Jesus washing the disciples' feet, interpreting it as a 'parable to the eyes.' He explains that this physical act has a narrow spiritual meaning that only Jesus can provide—spiritual cleansing. Jesus' act is a demonstration that teaches a spiritual reality, emphasizing that true cleansing can only be obtained through Him. The speaker contrasts this with the devil's influence over Judas Iscariot, discussing how the devil puts destructive ideas into hearts and how humans are responsible for their actions despite this influence. The sermon emphasizes the ongoing need for spiritual cleansing and encourages Christians to seek daily forgiveness for their sins. Dohm also explores the humility of Jesus, who, fully aware of His divine authority, performs the act of a slave to serve His disciples. The sermon closes with a call for Christians to walk closely with Jesus, adjusting their lives to His direction and pace, and to remain vigilant against spiritual forces that lead to destruction.

The title of the sermon this morning is Jesus is Teaching Spiritual Cleansing. This will be a part of really, this is a two part sermon. So we're taking one physical act that Jesus does. He washes the feet of his disciples. Matthew Henry calls this a parable to the eyes.

A parable is a word picture that paints a picture in your mind about something that the person who is telling the parable, they want to teach you about something. So they want to put a picture in your mind's eye. Well Jesus actually, instead of doing a word picture, performs a physical act for the same purposes. It's a teaching act. When you watch the act, it's going to put an indelible stamp, a picture on your mind that you won't be able to get away from.

You'll always have this picture in your mind and it's going to teach you a spiritual reality. So it's a physical act that teaches a spiritual reality. And he does this in two parts. The physical act washing the feet of his disciples has a narrow meaning. What I mean when I say that is that Jesus is teaching us about something that only He can do and provide.

So it's narrow in that sense. He's showing us, He's demonstrating something that I can't do for you and you can't do for me. It's spiritual cleansing. So it's narrow in the sense that you can only go to Jesus for what he is demonstrating in this part of the text. Then in next week we'll be looking at verses 12-17 and there's a broad meaning.

So one physical act, two meanings, a narrow meaning, something you can only go to Jesus for, but then next week will be about a broad meaning. Jesus teaching us about something we can and should do for one another, which is humbly serve each other. So this week's title is Jesus is Teaching Spiritual Cleansing. Next week's title will be, Jesus is Teaching Self-Sacrificing Service. So one physical act, two meanings.

A narrow meaning, only Jesus can do it, and a broad meaning, we can and should do it for one another. As we go to our text, let's ask the Lord to help us. Jesus, We thank you for being such a tender, good, thorough disciple maker. You made disciples of these men whose feet you washed. And you make disciples of us, all who have repented and believe the Gospel.

I pray now that we would be so happy, so content to sit at your feet and learn from you. We look into this text. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm going to subdivide the text this week.

I'd like to read verse one and then read verse two and look at it. Again, following on what I said last week, verse 1 sets the context for the whole thing. All of this is about a concrete expression of love. All of this is about love. Starting in verse 1, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come, that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Everything that follows that is about Jesus' love for his people. Now verse 2. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. I'm going to stop right there mid-sentence. We'll just cut off verse 2 there, even though we haven't finished the sentence, and consider what's there.

Here in verse 2, we have the devil and the heart of Judas Iscariot. So if you are taking notes on the handout and you are filling in blanks, heart fills in the blank. The devil, Satan, our enemy, and the heart of Judas Iscariot. Verse 2 says that the devil had already put something into the heart of Judas. Meaning before this time, before what is happening and what we are reading, the devil had already put something into the heart of Judas.

I want you to just listen to, because it is a short reading, Matthew 26, 14-16. This is a parallel account. Matthew records this. Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said, What are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you." And they counted out to him 30 pieces of silver. So from that time, he, Judas, sought opportunity to betray Him, Jesus.

So this has already happened by the time of our text. This negotiation between Judas and the chief priests has already come and gone. They are done negotiating. Actually, a price has been set for Jesus' betrayal. It's actually a fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah chapter 11 that the cost of the prince would be 30 pieces of silver, which is the price of a slave.

This is just jaw dropping fulfillment of prophecy. Zechariah 11 sets the price on the prince, which is the price of a slave. Jesus will be sold out for the price of a slave. This fulfillment of prophecy has already happened. Satan had already put it into Judas' hearts to betray Jesus.

He's already put that in motion. He hasn't betrayed Jesus yet, but he's going to betray Jesus. This is already planted and is coming to flower in his heart. Two weeks from now, I'm going to spend a lot more time on this because our text actually develops the sequence of this leading into Judas' betrayal. For now, I'm just going to touch on it.

But I want to dwell for a minute on the phrase, put it into the heart of Judas. What does it mean for the devil to put something into the heart of a person? I think it's helpful to consider what happened in the garden of Eden in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve had been created. We find out later in chapter 3 that they have this close, face-to-face fellowship with God.

God is actually walking in the garden in the cool of the day. He's calling out to them. The sense that you get is that This is a normal occurrence. God seeking out Adam and Eve and being with them face to face in the garden. The serpent who is the devil comes to Eve and says, has God indeed said, God really says you can't eat from any of the trees in the garden?

Of course that's not what God had said at all. There was one tree that they couldn't eat of. He casts doubt in the mind of Eve on what God has said. And then he flatly contradicts what God has said, saying you will not surely die. So step one cast doubt.

Did God indeed say step two a flat contradiction of what God said. You will not surely die. God said you would die. You surely will not die. Looking at Genesis 3 and what happened in the Garden, I think it would be accurate to say that the devil put it into the heart of Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.

Did the devil maker do it? No. Did the devil lay the groundwork by casting doubt on the Word of God and then flatly contradicting the Word of God. Yes, the devil laid the groundwork. He put it into the heart of Eve to do this unthinkable thing.

This matches exactly what we see in Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira. It's the earliest days of the New Testament Church, and saints are doing something wonderful. They're selling their possessions to provide for the needs of other saints in need. And Ananias and Sapphira do the same. They sell their property and they can do anything they want with the proceeds from the sale.

In other words, They don't have an obligation to give it away, but they hatch a plan to say that they are giving all of the proceeds to help those in need when really they are only giving part of the proceeds and keeping part of the proceeds. By the way, they could have done that and it would have been fine. They had a right to all of it, but that's not what they did. They said they gave it all when they only gave part. Here's what Peter says in Acts 5 verse 3 about this.

Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land for yourself. The implication is Satan put the seed, the devil put the seed of this in his heart. To think of this, to desire to have all the praise but keep some of the stuff. That's what he wanted. Where did that come from?

Where did that thought to go for all the praise while keeping some of the stuff came from. Peter puts his finger on it. The devil put that into his heart. The devil suggested that. Listen, listen again to what Peter says.

Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? Did Satan make Ananias do that? No. Did Satan lay the groundwork by introducing the notion that he could have his cake and eat it too? He could have all the praise for selling his property and yet keep some of the resources.

Yes, Satan laid the groundwork by doing that. So Eve cannot say, the devil made me do it, I'm not guilty. And Ananias and Sapphira cannot say, the devil made me do it, I'm not guilty. And Judas, Iscariot, cannot say, the devil made me do it, I'm not guilty. But it is true that the devil put it into the heart of Judas.

He suggested this devilish thing, this unthinkable thing. And Judas entertained it. And ultimately, Judas did it. Here's the punch line. Mankind has a mortal enemy who never stops thinking about how to bring you down.

You have a mortal enemy that never sleeps. His malice, his hatred of the Lord's people, it does not wax and wane. It continues in intensity. And he will suggest things that will lead you into destruction. He will suggest things that will lead you into destruction.

The devil even did this to Jesus in the wilderness. You go back to Matthew chapter 3, the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. You will find this same pattern. Introducing doubt, Jesus rejects that doubt and answers with the Word of God. Flatly contradicting what God has said, Jesus rejects that and puts the devil on notice.

That's what Judas should have done. My point here is, the devil used the same mode of operation with Jesus Christ the Son of God. Don't you dare say this cannot happen to Christians. The devil doesn't suggest things to Christians. Oh no, no, it's only Ananias and Sapphira, it's only Judas.

It was Jesus. The devil will suggest demonic, devilish things to you that will take you into destruction. Verses three through five. Back in our text, back in John 13, 3-5. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel, and girded himself.

After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded." In these verses, the teacher and Lord makes himself the slave. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, slave fills in the blank. The teacher and Lord makes himself the slave. I'm borrowing language from a few verses further than we'll study today where Jesus says, you call me teacher and Lord. Jesus is identified in this text as the teacher and Lord.

This teacher and Lord makes Himself the slave of His disciples. What we are watching unfold before us in the text. We start with verse 3. Let me read it again because it's astounding. Now think about this.

Verse 3. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God. This means that Jesus undertook this act of a slave with the perfect knowledge of who he was and what was his. It is one thing to say the teacher served the students. If I said that you would say, That's remarkable.

Look at the teacher serving the students. It's sort of a role reversal. Normally you'd expect the servants to serve the teacher, but now the teacher is serving the students. What a role reversal. It is entirely beyond that to say the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, undertook the act of a slave for his creatures.

Do you understand? It is so under-plaisant. It is so unworthy just to say, Oh look, The teacher served his students. No, no, no, no. Jesus knew exactly who He was.

In the moment in which He laid aside His outer garments and girded Himself with a towel and poured water in the basin and began to wash the feet of His disciples, He did it in full view of who He was and what was rightfully His. Jesus knew who He was. He came from God. He was going to God. What is the theology that begins the Gospel of John?

What is it? In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through Him. And without Him, nothing was made that was made. Jesus in the full light of that Christological teaching about Christ, Jesus knew that every day of his conscious life, better than any of us know it today, in the full light of all of that wonderful, beautiful, true theology, Jesus girded himself and washed the feet of his disciples. Jesus knew what was his, that the Father had given all things into his hands. We are about a month away from when he will speak the words of the Great Commission in Matthew 28.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now go make disciples. Jesus was completely aware that The rulership of all things in heaven and earth was his. It was given over into his hands. And what did he do with this great knowledge that he was the almighty creator of heaven and earth and that all things were at his disposal?

He took off his outer garments, girted himself with a long towel, filled the basin with water, and proceeded to wash the dirty feet of his disciples. He actually made each of these men. They owe every breath that they've ever breathed to Him. He made them. He gave them their lives.

He knit them together in their mother's womb to borrow language from Psalm 139. In the perfect light of all that, completely knowing who he was and what was his, he undertook this act of a slave. Now why do I keep calling that? Why do I keep calling it the act of a slave? Because to whatever extent they were able, the Jews pushed the work of foot washing down to Gentile servants.

In other words, if you could at all afford it, you wouldn't even have a Jew Washing the feet of the people who came into your house. If you could afford it, you would employ a gentile for such work. If you couldn't afford it, the lowest man on the totem pole gets that work. The lowest ranking member of the household, probably a child, would do this work. Foot washing was a common need and a dirty job.

Meaning you needed your feet washed a lot. This is not a ritualistic thing that you do. This is as practical as it gets. Dirty, dusty, sweaty feet just need to be cleaned a lot because around in a hot dusty culture. This was a common need and a dirty job, and you weren't riding, you were walking.

The truth is, this is the perfect Christmas text. If you could draw up a word picture to encapsulate what it would mean for the God of glory to leave the glory that was rightfully His, to take on flesh and serve humanity. This is the picture you would draw. Jesus, with his outer garment aside, having girded himself with a long towel, wrapped a long towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin, and now beginning to undertake the job of cleaning the dirty feet of his disciples. Just listen.

Choir parents have heard this five times in the last two weeks, but listen to this text. This is Philippians Chapter 2. Just think about this and how this one snapshot perfectly encapsulates the incarnation. Philippians 2, 5-8. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. What a perfect Christmas snapshot! What a perfect Christmas snapshot! I never in a million years would have picked this as a Christmas text, but here we are on Christmas. It is a crystallization, as pure as it gets, of Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, leaving heaven, taking on the form of a bond servant, making himself of no reputation, and becoming obedient to death, even the shameful, disgraceful, excruciating death of the cross.

That was verses 3-5. The teacher and Lord makes himself the slave. Now 6-11. Follow along as I read 6-11. Then he, Jesus, came to Simon Peter.

Peter said to him, Lord are you washing my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, what I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this." Peter said to him, "'You shall never wash my feet.' Jesus answered him, "'If I do not wash you, you have no part in me. You have no part with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are clean, but not all of you. For he knew who would betray him, Therefore he said, You are not all clean. In these verses we have the first meaning of this symbolic action. So, if you are taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, symbolic fills in the blank. This first meaning of this symbolic action.

I say first meaning because Jesus gives to this narrow meaning, a meaning that can only be understood in the light of what Jesus alone can do for you. Next week we'll study the broad meaning, the second meaning of this physical act, what we can and should do for one another. I say symbolic action because what Jesus is doing is representative. Jesus is teaching. There is something real happening here.

There is a real physical need that is being met. But Far and away above the physical need that is being fulfilled here, Jesus is teaching. It is a symbolic action. Not a purely symbolic action, but a symbolic action to teach about spiritual realities. It's a lot like what he was doing in chapter 4 with the woman at the well.

She's drawing water and he says, let me tell you about living water. This is, as Matthew Henry says, a parable to the eyes. Now let's walk through some of this verse by verse. Verse 6, Jesus comes to Peter, Peter says, Lord, are you washing my feet? The you and my are emphatic, meaning if you place the emphasis on you and my, you get at the meaning of what Peter is saying.

Lord are you washing my feet? This is very much like Matthew 3 14 where Jesus has come to be baptized by John the Baptist. What does John the Baptist say? I need to be baptized by you. And are you coming to me?

Just like that. John the Baptist realized that Jesus was greater and that it would be so appropriate for Jesus to baptize John the Baptist. The baptizer needed to be baptized by Jesus, not the other way around, but Jesus is wise in all that he does. This is very much like that. Because Peter knows who Jesus is, he had already confessed, probably quite a long time earlier, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

That's Matthew 16, the great confession of Peter. Jesus, you are the Christ. You are the promised Messiah, the Son of the living God. Because Peter knows this is who Jesus is, he mistakenly thinks Jesus is too exalted for this task. Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you are too exalted to be washing the feet of someone like me.

You are too exalted to be washing any man's feet. Verse 7, Jesus answers, What I am doing you do not understand now, But you will know after this. It is true that Jesus is about to explain in words. He is about to give a verbal explanation. A two-fold verbal explanation.

It means this and it means this. But I think there is something also future here. You don't understand now, I am going to explain it to you. And in time you really understand the truth and the wisdom of what I am teaching here. Verse 8, Peter is clearly dissatisfied with that answer.

Peter, you don't understand now, but you're going to understand later What's happening now? Not satisfactory to Peter. Look at verse 8, Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. So Peter is not buying the explanation. Wait a minute you will understand.

No, you cannot wash my feet. In the Greek it is so emphatic. It would be like saying till the end of time, not only never will you wash my feet, not now, not ever. We say, until the end of time. Peter is essentially saying that in the Greek, until the end of time you will not wash my feet.

In time and in eternity you will never wash my feet. So, When Peter is faced with something that Jesus is doing which he doesn't understand, at this point in his life, Peter exalts his own sense of things. Let me read that again. This is something that's in the text. It's really important.

And very applicable to Jason Dome in 2018, almost 19. And to you. When Peter is faced with something that Jesus is doing that he doesn't understand, at this point in Peter's life he exalts his own sense of things. Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. I don't understand this thing you are doing right now, so I must be right and you must be wrong.

Now, would Peter ever utter those words? No way. Is there any other way to explain what's at the heart of what he says here? No way. That's at the heart of it.

In other words, he would never be able to bring himself to utter those words. I know who you are, and I don't understand what you're doing, so I must be right And you must be wrong. That would never come out of Peter's mouth. But there's no other way to explain what is at the heart of what Peter is saying here. He's found a more sophisticated way to say it.

He's found a way to sort of dress it up. But at its heart he is saying, I must be right, you must be wrong. We would never say those words. Jesus, I don't understand what you are doing right now. I do believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God, I don't understand what you're doing right now in my life or in the life of people that I love.

My sense must be exalted. I must be right, you must be wrong. You would never bring yourself to utter those words. But how else can you explain our patterns of unbelief and disobedience? We've found a sophisticated, respectable way to describe our hearts of unbelief and disobedience and our exaltation of our sense of things when really we think we must be right and he must be wrong.

If he knew what he was doing, he wouldn't have brought these things into my life. If he knew what he was doing, he wouldn't have brought these things into the life of my loved one. We know better than Christ, the Son of the living God. Isn't that jarring? Isn't that jarring to hear those words?

I know better than Christ! But if that's not really down there, in there, how do you explain your patterns of unbelief and disobedience? The words that follow just drive home the point. Look at the second half of verse 8. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.

Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. So again he knows better. Talk about doubling down. Again he knows better than Jesus. Now I want you to notice something.

It's sort of subtle, but it's absolutely here in the text. At first glance, Peter's responses appear humble. Meaning, on the surface you have a humble Peter. Lord, you are exalted and I am lowly. Will you wash my feet?

That's humble, isn't it? Lord, if it's true that I can only have a part in you If you wash me, then wash me from head to toe." In reality, it is exactly the opposite. When Jesus is your master, When you are His disciple, disciple is just a word that means student, pupil, learner. When you're Jesus' student, or His pupil, or His learner, when you're His disciple, Lagging behind and running ahead are both errors. Lagging behind the master is an error.

So is running ahead. Peter does this, both of these in consecutive verses in our text. In a figurative sense, we are to walk beside the Master. That's not a statement of equality Saying, I walk beside him, I'm his peer. No, no, no.

That is a statement that our eyes are on him. Oh, this direction? Okay, this direction. Oh, this pace? Okay, this pace.

So I'm beside him. I'm his disciple. I'm his pupil. I'm his student. I'm his learner.

When he changes direction, I change direction. When he changes pace, I change pace. My job is to stay beside him, to keep my eyes upon him, and to stay at his side. He speeds up, I speed up. He slows down, I slow down.

He backtracks, I backtrack. Okay. Now I'm finally at the point I've been trying to get to. Oh, I didn't start the recording. So I don't know how far into it I am.

That's good. I'm finally where I've been trying to get to. Because here is the central truth. And I want to actually start at verse 11 and then back up. You will see why.

Look at verse 11. For he, Jesus, knew who would betray him. Therefore, he said, You are not all clean. Jesus knew who the son of perdition was. Later in John, that's going to be Judas' label, the son of perdition.

Jesus knew who was going to betray him. He knew who the son of perdition was. Later in John, that's going to be Judas' label, the son of perdition. Jesus knew who was going to betray him. He knew who the son of perdition was.

That's why he said, you are not all clean. This tells us with perfect clarity that this doesn't have to do with physical cleansing. This is not about personal hygiene, whether your feet are physically dirty or clean. It's not even about humble service at this point. In the sense in which Jesus has been speaking, Judas is unclean.

And the rest of the disciples are clean. This is spiritual cleansing. Judas, spiritually unclean. The other eleven, spiritually clean. Though one of the twelve, Though spending three and a half years with Jesus, seeing His miracles, hearing His preaching, watching His deeds, Judas has never been cleansed spiritually.

That is a declaration of that in our text. That's the framework. Now back up to the red letters in verse 8, the end of verse 8. Jesus says, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. So, if Jesus washes you, you have a part with Him.

You have an interest in Him. You have an inheritance from Him. If Jesus doesn't wash you, you don't have a part with Him. You have no interest in Him. You have no inheritance from Him.

He is speaking of something without which you and Jesus have no common interest. You are part of opposing kingdoms, your enemies. He is speaking of something without which you are an enemy of Jesus. That frames what Jesus says next in verse 10. He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are clean, but not all of you. Just relate this to His disciples. Take verse 10 and just say, we are going to flesh this out on the disciples. I'll read it again. He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are all clean, but not all of you. You just flesh this out, and how this works its way out in these twelve men, then you understand the spiritual truths Jesus is teaching with this physical act. In a spiritual sense, the other disciples, the non-Judas disciples, are bathed. They are fully cleansed. Verse 10 says they are completely clean.

Put your eyes on that. The other eleven have been bathed so they are fully cleansed. The text the text says completely clean. A person in this condition is in an ultimate sense of of cleanness. An unchangeable state of cleanness and yet still needing ongoing cleansing.

Ongoing cleansing. In an ultimate state of cleanliness, meaning pronounced clean. Here Jesus is pronouncing it, but is completely clean. If you've been bathed, you are pronounced by Jesus completely clean, and yet still needing ongoing cleansing. Cleansing.

Having ongoing sins and defilements that don't change the ultimate state, but still need to be wiped away. We're bringing this in terms of spiritual realities, not into a state of righteousness with God, and then unrighteousness. I sin. I get washed again, and then unrighteousness, and then unrighteousness, and then unrighteousness. No, no, no.

An ultimate ongoing end state of having been declared righteous. When you've been bathed in the sense of Jesus' teaching here in the spiritual realities, it is a once for all time act where you are made completely clean. It is never repeated. You are only bathed once. That's why Jesus says to Peter, you don't need that again.

Eleven of you have already been bathed, and you are completely clean. Your ultimate state is a state of cleanliness. Once a person has been declared justified by faith, pardoned by faith, you never need that again. In fact, you can never get that again. Because it's unnecessary.

You are that, because God has made you that. God has made you clean. But Does that mean that that person never sins again? Any Christian in the room will tell you, that's not what that means. Any Christian in the room will tell you, I still sin many times through pride, self-righteousness, the things that I say, the things that I think, the things that I do.

I have many, many sins and I need ongoing cleansing. I want to give you three texts which I think reinforce and throw light on what Jesus is saying in this text. The first is 1 Corinthians 6. Please turn to 1 Corinthians 6. By the way, the language of water and cleansing are all over scripture.

So we could make this a really long sermon. I'm going to satisfy myself with 1 Corinthians 6. If you want more on this, just do a study of water, cleansing, washing. You'll find it everywhere, Old Testament and New. 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11, Paul writes to the Corinthians.

Now who are the Corinthians? They were the people who last week, last year, last month were at, well were pagan idolaters. Rolling around in the mud. They were pigs rolling around in the mud. Maybe like no one else on earth.

It was a place famous for idolatry. It was Las Vegas. Las Vegas. I probably don't need to explain it more than that. Here's what Paul writes to these people who are just out of pagan idolatry.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, Nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

I venture to say that someone in the Corinthian Church had fornication in their past. Someone in the Corinthian Church had adultery in their past. Someone in the Corinthian church had homosexuality in their past. Sodomy in their past. Theft in their past.

Covetousness in their past. Drunkenness in their past. Reviling in their past. Extortion in their past. Murder in their past.

Such were some of you. Look at the verb dance. Rejoice in the verb dance. You are washed. You pigs have been rolling around in the mud for a long time, for all your life long.

You're washed. You're a fornicator, you're not a fornicator. You are washed. You're a homosexual, you're not a homosexual. You're washed.

You're a sodomite, you're not a sodomite. You're washed. You're an extortioner, you're not an extortioner. You are washed. Such were some of you.

You don't need to be washed again, you've been washed. Jesus said, it is finished on the cross. He meant it. He has dealt with the sins of the people who have repented and believed the gospel. It is a once and for all time act.

You were washed. You were washed. You were washed. You've been bathed. You are completely clean in that sense.

You are washed. You are sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. Did Paul speak in the wrong order? I thought sanctification is getting rid of your sins over time.

Why would he say you were sanctified, you were justified? No, no, no. You were justified and then sanctified. No, no, no. Sanctification is a term used in a couple of different ways.

The way that it's being used here is, you were grabbed by God and set apart. That's how he's using it here. So it is in the right order here. You were washed. You were sanctified.

God put His hands on your sinful life and set you apart for Himself. He justified you. He declared you to be righteous and you are righteous now and into eternity. This is what Jesus is saying. He says if you've been bathed, you don't need to be bathed again.

You just need to have your feet washed. Now turn to 1 John 1. 1 John 1. So of course that reality is true and it is the glory of the Gospel, but of course it doesn't mean that it's impossible for Christians to sin. Any Christian can tell you that.

So what should we do? Jesus is answering that in our text. John is throwing light on this in 1 John chapter 1. Let's read verses 8-10 together. John, same author as our Gospel, John writes in 1 John 1.8, if we say that we have no sin, we Christians, writing to Christians, if we Christians say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, if we, so John puts himself in there, if we, not if you, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, We make him a liar and his word is not in us. So he sort of starts and ends the same way. You have these bookends. If you say you're not a sinner, Christian, you're a liar.

He says it at the start and he says it at the end. In the middle he says, here's what you do about your sin. Confess them. Christian, though you have been washed, pardoned, justified, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We're in a world face to face, nose to nose, with The world, the flesh and the devil putting pressure on us and we compromise when we shouldn't compromise.

And we need to be cleansed from that unrighteousness. Confess your sins. He's faithful and just. You're a Christian, a real live Christian, but You still find that sin is part of your life. John tells us what to do about it.

You go to him and he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us. You need your feet washed. You're still making contact with the world. You're still walking around in a hot dusty land. You're still walking around in a hot dusty land.

Your feet get dirty. They need to be washed. You don't need a bath again. That's once and for all time. You need to be cleansed ongoing from this unrighteousness.

Go to Him. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Number three. So number one was 1st Corinthians 6. Such were some of you, but you were washed.

Number two, 1st John 1-9. We confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Number three, just listen to this one. You can never make it there before I spit it out.

Matthew 6, 6-12, Forgive us our debts. Matthew 6-12, Forgive us our debts. You recognize that? It's part of the Lord's prayer. Jesus, John the Baptist is teaching his disciples to pray.

Teach us how to pray. Okay. When you pray, pray like this. Part of that prayer, Forgive us our debts. For non-Christians, for people who have never repented, no!

He's teaching his disciples how to pray. How should you pray? Forgive us our debts. God, forgive me of my sins. It should be part of your prayers.

Why? Because He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We are Christians but we still sin. We need cleanse from all unrighteousness. So when we go to God and we pray, we ask Him to forgive our debts.

Because we are disciples, He taught us how to pray. Finally, I want to take us back to last week. The governing context is love. What is behind the spiritual cleansing of a sinner, either the one-time cleansing of regeneration or the ongoing cleansing when we confess our sins to Him? Love.

That is behind all the spiritual cleansing. Jesus washes white as snow because He loves His eternal purposeful love. He makes you as white as snow because before you ever breathed a breath, He was determined to make you an object of His love and His mercy. When we lose sight of this great truth, the Gospel becomes man-centered. It becomes about our need and our self interest.

I'm not denying the need. When it's right in mind, could deny the need. Yes, of course we're filthy. But the point is, you loved it before God showed it to you. You were content to wallow in it before God showed it to you.

And it is only because you are the object of His love, the apple of His eye, the target of His eternal affections, that you began to see sin as exceedingly sinful and a desire was birthed in your heart to be free from it. If you know what I'm talking about, it's because He has eternally loved you and purpose to show that to you so you would run to him and be clean. Keep your eyes on the God of love who in eternity past decided to show mercy on whom he would have mercy. Decided to have compassion on whom he would have compassion. Three applications.

Number one. Application number one. Demonic spiritual forces are suggesting things to you that will take you into destruction. That is true, but you never think about it. We become very naturalistic, meaning we only think about the physical reality so many minutes of the day.

And we're not aware of the spiritual influences for good and for evil that are all around us all the time. And Demonic spiritual forces are whispering to you things that will drag you into destruction. If you don't believe that, you don't believe the Bible. When we never stop to think about that, we are very unwise. Because forewarned is forearmed.

We need to have a trigger in our minds that when something is inserted into our thoughts that would drag us into destruction according to the truth of the Word of God, we say, And we don't nurture it and we don't entertain it. We reject it as a demonic insinuation that needs to be dealt with as if an enemy were planting a seed in our heart that if it were to come to full flower would destroy us. Number two. Everyone. Consider what Jesus said about cleansing.

Are you washed? Just think about the reality of what is happening in our text. Judas Iscariot, the son of Perdition, is having his feet washed by the one who could spiritually set him free and make him clean. It's of no value to him because he hasn't been bathed. This is the equivalent of an unregenerate person and their New Year's resolutions that they're going to make in one week.

They're going to turn over a new leaf and they're going to try harder. They're going to do better for a period of time. If you wash your feet when you haven't been bathed, who cares? Who cares? How are you better off if you have never been bathed to wash your feet?

Have you been washed? Christians, are you going for ongoing cleansing? Sometimes we just stop doing this. We stop praying, God forgive me my debts. Please forgive me.

Please, I am confessing this sin to you. I see it. Cleanse me from the unrighteousness. I don't want to just keep walking around in the unrighteousness. God, please cleanse me.

We should be praying that way every day. Do you pray that way every day? I doubt it. How do I know? The psychological term is projection.

I know I don't pray that way every day, so I'm projecting that on you. His mercies are new every morning. He's desiring to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And here we are walking around with dirty feet when He would wash them for us. Number three.

Christians. You who bear the name of the Lord Jesus, say, I'm a Christian, I wear the name of Christ. How are you doing at walking beside your master? In that section about walking beside the Lord, when I was writing that early this morning, I stopped and I went in the other room and I got on my face in the carpet. And I wept.

Because when he changes directions, so often I'm slow to change directions. When he goes faster or goes slower. You don't know about me. I clean up pretty good on the outside. We have to resolve to be so much better than acceptable to each other.

Not to earn a position with God, that is secure for Christians. Disciples walk beside the Master. Their eyes are on Him. So When he speeds up, they see he's speeding up and they speed up. When I was on the floor this morning, I was just thinking, I want to do that.

I want to do that. I want to notice right away when he changes direction. I don't want to be not even noticing for a while. How are you doing walking beside the Master? Endeavor.

Endeavor to have your eyes set upon Him, and to walk beside Him. Not to be lagging behind or running ahead, but walking beside. God, thank you for the sweetness of your Word. How many, many, many good things you've taught us in the Gospel of John. We relish coming to your Word, placing ourselves so happily under the authority of it.

Make us people like that. Just desiring to hear from you. And whatever we hear from you, desiring to do it. See these things be realities in our lives, not just things that we study. Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.