Sunday School Lessons

JUNE 10, 2018

SEVEN WORDS OF COMFORT FOR CHRIST’S DISCIPLES (PART I)

INTRODUCTION:
1. Let us remember that there is no break between the end of Chapter 13 and the beginning of Chapter 14. Jesus is continuingthe discourse He began after the Lord’s Supper in which He addressed the eleven faithful disciples. There was perhaps a slight pause, as He turned from Peter to whom He had been speaking particularly, and began to address the group collectively.
2. Our Lord’s great object throughout this and the two following chapters seems quite clear. He intended to comfort and encourage His downcast disciples. He saw their hearts were troubled, and that, for a number of reasons. They saw their Master troubled in spirit (Ch. 13:21); they learned that one of them would betray Him; they saw Judas depart mysteriously; they heard Jesus announce that He would soon be leaving them; they heard the warning addressed to Peter, that he would deny his Lord; but they were especially troubled because their Master was going away and they would not be going with Him.
3. Their loving Master saw it and proceeded to give them encouragement: “Let not your heart be troubled.” Notice the singular, “your heart,” for He means to comfort the individual heart of each one.
4. In Verses 1-27 of this chapter Jesus offers seven words of comfort for His disciples, intended to encourage, establish, and build them up, as they faced the reality of His leaving.
a) First, heaven is sure for Christ’s disciples. (Verses 1-3)
b) Second, disciples have in Christ a certain way to heaven. (Verses 4-11)c)
Third, Christ’s work will not cease with His departure. (Verses 12-14)d)
Fourth, in Christ’s absence, His disciples will be given the Holy Spirit. (Verses 15-17)e)
Fifth, Christ will not leave His people forever, but will come back again. (Verses 18-24)f)
Sixth, the Holy Spirit will teach the disciples, and supply all lack of understanding. (Verses 25, 26)g)
Seventh, the legacy of peace will be left to cheer the disciples in their Master’s absence. (Verse 27)
5. These seven words are for the comfort and encouragement of all believers in every age.
6. For this lesson we will consider the first two grounds for comfort. (Verses 1-11)

I. THE FIRST GROUND OF COMFORT FOR CHRIST’S DISCIPLES IS THAT FOR THEM HEAVEN IS SURE. (VERSES 1-3)

A. CHRIST TOOK NOTICE OF THEIR NEED OF COMFORT, SEEING THAT THEY WERE TROUBLED. “LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED.”
1. We have noted several reasons why they might have been troubled. (Ch. 13:21, 28, 33, 38)
2. The chief reason they were troubled in heart was their Lord’s announcement that He was soon to leave them.

B. CHRIST PRESCRIBED THE INITIAL AND GENERAL REMEDY FOR THEIR TROUBLED HEARTS. “YE BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME.”
1. Some see two indicative statements here: “Ye believe in God, ye believe in me.” This hardly seems to be the case. Though they believed in God, they had not as yet come to fully believe that He was One with the Father.(Verses 8, 9)
2. Some think both are imperative: “Believe in God, believe in me.” This too seems unlikely, since they did believe in the God of their fathers.
3. Our translation seems to be right, in that, it seems to express exactly the disciples’ state of mind at the time. They did, as devout Jews, believe in God already. They needed a fuller and more thorough understanding of who Christ was. “Believe also in me.”
4. The surest remedy for a troubled heart is a stronger and more distinct faith in Christ. But, we must remember that true faith admits to growth.

C. JESUS FOCUSED ON A PARTICULAR DIRECTION FOR THEIR BELIEF IN HIM. (VERSES 2, 3)
1. He had directed them to trust in Him as they trust in God the Father; but what must they trust in the Father and Sonto do?
a) They were to trust Him to bring them to a place and state of happiness when this life and this body and this world shall be no more.
b) They must believe in Him that He will bring them to a place of unending happiness for the immortal soul in the eternal world.
c) This is proposed as a sovereign solace and comfort under all troubles of this present time.
2. In reality, there is such a happiness, and in this we can fully trust. “If it were not so, I would have told you.”

D. JESUS DESCRIBES THIS FUTURE HAPPY ABODE AS A PLACE MOST SUITABLE AND COMFORTABLE. “IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS.”
1. Heaven is the Father’s house. It is but little that we are told about heaven, and little that we understand while we are here, but, from Jesus’ words here we can know something of heaven’s delights.
2. Heaven is the house of Him of whom Jesus spoke when He said, “I go to my Father and your Father.”
a) It is, in a word, home: the home of Christ and Christians.
b) Home is the place where we are loved, never forgotten, and always welcome.
c) This is one idea of heaven. We are not at home in this land. We are strangers and pilgrims here, but in heaven we will be at home.
3. Heaven is a place of mansions – of lasting, permanent, and eternal dwellings.
a) Here in the body we are in temporary lodgings, tents, and tabernacles.
b) In heaven we shall be settled at last, and go out no more.
c) Here we have no continuing city (Heb. 13:14). Our house, not made with hands, shall never be taken down. (II Cor. 5:1)
4. Heaven is a place of many mansions.
a) There will be room for all believers.
b) The word “mansions” means literally “abiding places.” In Verse 23 this word is rendered “abode.”
c) Whatever we call it, this “house not made with hands eternal in the heavens” will exceed anything we might imagine for beauty or for splendor.

E. OUR EXPECTATION FOR GOOD THINGS TO COME IS ON SOLID GROUND.
1. First, Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you.”
a) Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.
b) It is a place where we shall find Christ Himself has made ready for us.
c) He has prepared it, in that, He has procured a right for every believing soul to enter in.
d) He has prepared it by going before us as our Forerunner, our Head, and our Representative, and taking possession of it for all the members of His body.
e) He has made preparation by carrying our names with Him as our High Priest into the Holy of Holies.
f) They that enter heaven will find that they are neither unknown nor unexpected.
2. Second, Jesus said, “I will come again and receive you unto myself.”
a) He will not wait for believers to come up to Him, but will come down and raise them from their graves, and escort them to their heavenly home.
b) We are “looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing.” (Tit. 2:13)

F. JESUS GRACIOUSLY ASSURED THE DISCIPLES THAT WHAT HE HERE SAID WAS TRUE. “IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU.”
1. He speaks to them as to His little children.
2. To them He says, “If there was the least uncertainty about our future together in heaven, I would have told you.”
3. Believers of all ages have been greatly comforted by this sure promise.

II. THE SECOND GROUND OF COMFORT FOR CHRIST’S DISCIPLES IS THAT IN HIM THEY HAVE A CERTAIN WAY TO HEAVEN. (VERSES 4-11)

A. JESUS, BECAUSE OF HIS FORMER TEACHING, ASSUMES THAT THEY KNOW THAT HE IS GOING TO HEAVEN, AND ALSO THAT THEY KNOW HOW TO GET THERE. (VERSE 5a)
1. Disciples often know less than they should.
2. But disciples also may know more than they think they know.
3. Surely, as Jesus spoke, they recalled what they had been taught, only now with fuller understanding than before.

B. JESUS, IN RESPONSE TO THOMAS’ INQUIRY ABOUT THE WAY, MAKES A GLORIOUS DECLARATION ABOUT HIMSELF. (VERSES 5b-11)
1. What glorious names Jesus gives Himself. “I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.”
a) “The Way” – the way to heaven and peace with God.
(1) He is not only the teacher, or guide, or lawgiver, like Moses.
(2) He is Himself the door, the ladder, the road by which we must come to God.
(3) By His blood alone may we draw near to God, and have access to Him.
b) The Truth” – the whole substance of true religion.
(1) Without Him, the wisest of men grope in darkness knowing nothing about God.
(2) Before He came, the Jews saw “through a glass darkly.”
(3) Under types and shadows nothing was fully discerned, but Christ is the whole truth.
c) “The Life” – the sinner’s title to eternal life; the believer’s root of spiritual life; the surety of the Christian’s resurrection life. (I John 5:11, 12)
2. How expressly our Lord Jesus shuts out all ways of salvation but Himself. “No man cometh unto the Father but by me.”
3. How close and mysterious is the union of God the Father and God the Son! (Verses 7-11)
a) His glorious declaration (Verse 7) drew another request, this time from Philip. (Verse 8)
b) Four times over this mighty truth is put before us in unmistakable language.
(1) “If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also.”
(2) “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
(3) “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.”
(4) “The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doth the works.”
c) Sayings like these are full of deep mystery. We have no eyes to see fully their meaning. We have no language to express truth so glorious and mysterious, and no mind to take it in. We must be content to believe and admire and revere what we cannot interpret or explain.
d) Let us however, take comfort in the truth that Christ is very God of very God; equal with the Father in all things, and One with Him.
e) He who loved us, and gave Himself for us, and bids us trust Him for pardon and salvation is no mere man like ourselves. He is “God over all blessed forever.” Thus He could say, “Ye believe in God, believe also in Me,” for He is One with the Father.

JUNE 3, 2018

JESUS ALONE WITH THE ELEVEN

INTRODUCTION:

1. In this passage we find our Lord at last alone with His eleven faithful disciples.
a) The traitor, Judas Iscariot, had left the room to do his wicked deed of darkness.
b) Freed from the pain of his company, our Lord speaks more freely and fully to His little flock than ever before.
c) Matthew Henry calls this and what follows to the end of Chapter 14 “Christ’s table talk with His disciples.” When Judas went out, Christ and the eleven remained sitting at the table.
2. But, what did our Lord talk about with the disciples as they sat around the table after supper?
a) They applied themselves to profitable discourse. This teaches us to make use of the time we have around the Lord’s table and learn from Him.
b) Their attention was focused on their Master, Who, on this occasion, had much to tell them by way of preparation and comfort.
3. Speaking to them for the last time before His passion, He begins a discourse which for touching interest surpasses any portion of Scripture.

I. HE BEGINS BY DECLARING WHAT GLORY HIS CRUCIFIXION BROUGHT BOTH TO GOD THE FATHER AND TO GOD THE SON. (VERSES 31, 32) This is obviously what He had in mind when He said, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and god is glorified in Him.” The same as before, when He prayed, “Father, glorify thy name.” (See Ch.12:27, 28), the hour of which He spoke was that of His passion and death, which was now at hand. His work on earth was finished, and the event that was to take place tomorrow, however painful to the eleven, was in reality most glorifying to both Himself and the Father.

A. THIS SAYING WAS DARK AND MYSTERIOUS TO THE ELEVEN. (VERSE 31) “Now is the son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.”
1. Where was the glory in something that was expressly cursed? (Gal. 3:3)
2. How can there be glory in such a death?
a) In all the ignominy and humiliation, which He saw coming, or heard about the next day?
b) In hanging naked for six hours between two thieves?
c) In an event that filled the minds of the Apostles with shame, disappointment and dismay?
3. Yet, our Lord said it was so.

B. THE CRUCIFIXION BROUGHT GLORY TO THE FATHER. “…God is glorified in Him.”
1. When the Father answered the son in Chapter 12:28, “I have glorified it (My Name) and will glorify it again,” this is what He meant.
2. The crucifixion glorified His wisdom, faithfulness, holiness, and love.
a) It showed Him wise in providing a plan of redemption whereby He could be just and yet the Justifier of the ungodly. (Rom. 3:26; I Pet. 3:18)
b) It showed Him faithful in keeping His promise that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. (Gen. 3:15)
c) It showed Him holy in requiring His Law’s demands to be satisfied by our great Substitute.
d) It showed Him loving, in providing such a Mediator, such a Redeemer, and such a Friend for sinful man as His own co-eternal Son.

C. THE CRUCIFIXION BROUGHT GLORY TO THE SON. “Now is the Son of man glorified.”
1. When the Son prayed, “Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son,” He was asking for that which He here declared.
2. The crucifixion glorified the son’s compassion, His patience, and His power.
a) It showed Him most compassionate, in
(1) dying for us, suffering in our stead;
(2) allowing Himself to be counted sin and a curse:
(3) and buying our redemption with His own blood.
b) It showed Him most patient, in
(1) not dying the common death of most men, but willingly submitting to the unknown agonies of the cross;
(2) not summoning His Father’s angels to come and set Him free. (Matt. 26:53)
c) It showed Him most powerful in bearing the weight of all the world’s transgressions, and vanquishing Satan, and forcing the release of his prey.

D. LET US EVER REMEMBER OUR LORD’S WORDS ABOUT THE CROSS AND THEIR MEANING.
1. Painting, sculptures, and crucifixes cannot represent the cross, because they do not tell the story.
2. God’s Law honored, man’s sin borne, sin’s punishment accomplished in a Substitute, free salvation bought for man – of all this they say nothing, yet the crucifixion is all of this.

II. JESUS NEXT ADDRESSES THE SUBJECT OF BROTHERLY LOVE, AND STRESSES THE GREAT IMPORTANCE OF IT. (VERSES 33-35)

A. THE PREMISE FOR THE DISCUSSION IS THE FACT OF HIS SOON GOING AWAY. (VERSE 33) “Little children, yet a little while I am with you.”
1. This is the only time our Lord ever calls His disciples by this title: “Little children.”
a) This does not bespeak their weakness, but rather His own tender love and affection for them.
b) This is the language of a loving father speaking to his children, whom he is about to leave alone as orphans in the world.
2. Almost as soon as the false apostle left the faithful eleven comes the injunction, “Love one another.”

B. THIS INJUNCTION HE CALLS A “NEW COMMANDMENT.” (VERSES 34,35)
1. He calls it “a new commandment,” not because it was novel, and had not been given before. (Matt. 22:37-40)
2. But, it was now to be honored, to occupy a higher position, to be backed by a higher example than ever before. (John 15:13)
3. Above all, it was to be the test and witness of Christianity before the world. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (Verse 35)
a) Clearly, this is a much purer and higher love than that which an unbelieving world talks about.
b) The love of Christ for His own sets the standard for Christian love. (I John 3:16; I Cor. 13:3-7)

III. JESUS NEXT ADDRESSES HIS WORDS TO PETER’S ANXIOUS QUESTIONS. (VERSES 36-38)

A. HERE, AS ELSEWHERE, PETER’S FORWARD IMPULSIVE SPIRIT PROMPTS HIM TO ANXIOUSLY ASK QUESTIONS THAT WERE DOUBTLESS ON THE MINDS OF THE OTHERS ALSO. (VRS. 36, 37)
1. The first question is, “Whither goest thou?”
a) How very little had the disciples understood respecting the Lord’s repeated sayings regarding His leaving, i.e. His death.
b) Often He had spoken of His death, yet they still did not take it in, and were startled when He spoke of going away.
c) It is stunning how much Gospel truth folks can hear and yet because of preconceived notions, they are unable to receive it.
2. Peter’s second question came in response to Jesus’ answer to his first question. “Lord, why can I not follow thee now?”
a) To the first question, “Whither goest thou?” Jesus answered, “Whither I go thou canst not follow me now.”
b) Peter, like a child begging his father, said, “Lord, why can I not follow thee now?”
c) Jesus’ promise, “but thou shalt follow me afterward,” did not seem to satisfy him.
(1) We certainly understand this on a natural level. Children, when told they must wait until later are prone to react exactly as Peter did.
(2) But, Peter had no clue what Jesus words, “Ye shall follow me afterward,” really meant, either as to when that might be, or as to how it would be.

B. PETER’ S BOLD ARGUMENT AS FOR WHY HE WAS READY TO FOLLOW HIS LORD NOW REVEALED A LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF HIMSELF. “I will lay down my life for thy sake.”
1. That Peter was sincere in his statement of loyalty we do not doubt.
2. It is very common for us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought.
3. Therefore, let us learn to preface our resolves with, “by God’s grace,” or “if the Lord wills, I will do thus and so.”

C. JESUS ANSWERED PETER’S BOLD STATEMENT WITH A TRUE PREDICTION OF HIS FAILURE. (VERSE 38)
1. Jesus asks, “Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake?” That is, “Wilt thou really and truly be willing to die for me? You little know your own weakness and feebleness.”
2. Jesus then revealed His knowledge of His over-confident disciple. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow until thou had denied me thrice.”
a) See here an example of our Lord’s wonderful foreknowledge. How unlikely it seemed that such a bold professor should fall so far so soon. Yet, Jesus foresaw it all.
b) Let us note the wonderful kindness and condescension of Jesus. He knew very well the weakness and feebleness of His chief disciple, and yet never rejected him, and even restored him again after his fall.
c) Christians should be men and women with very tender feelings toward weak brethren.
(1) Let us never forget our Lord’s continued grace and kindness toward us.
(2) Let us never forget His kind dealings with Peter, and seek to be likeminded. (Gal. 6:1, 2; Eph. 4:32)

MAY 20, 2018

JESUS FORETELLS WHO SHOULD BETRAY HIM

INTRODUCTION:
1. Jesus knew who should betray Him. He was never unaware that the one who would lift up his heel against Him was a devil from the beginning.
2. Jesus knew, even before He washed the feet of the twelve disciples, that the devil had just before put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Him. (Verse 2) Yet, He washed the traitor’s feet also, not revealing to the others that when he said,“Ye are clean, but not all…” that there was one who was unclean, and it was Judas. (Verses 10, 11)
3. the time had now come that the Lord would make known to His disciples that one of them would betray Him, and who it was that would do it.
a) It is clear from this passage that they did not expect Christ should be betrayed, though He had often told them so.
b) Much less did they suspect that one of them should betray their Lord, so when they learned it, none of the others suspected Judas to be the traitor.
4. Jesus here foretells who should betray Him.

I. JESUS SAW FIT BEFORE THE BETRAYAL TO REVEAL THAT THE TRAITOR WAS ONE OF THE TWELVE. (VERSES 18-20)

A. FIRST, HE GIVES THEM A GENERAL INTIMATION OF IT. (VERSE 18) “I speak not of you all.”
1. What He had said about His servants following the example of their Master did not apply to all of them. (Vse. 16a) They would not all be His “sent ones.’ (Verse 16b) He had said, “You are clean but not all.”
a) What is said about the blessedness of Christ’s disciples cannot be applied to all who call themselves so.
b) It is a sobering thought that one day Christ will separate His true people from those who are Christians in name only. (Rev. 3:1) The day is coming when the wheat shall be separated from the tares. (Matt. 13:30)
2. Of the twelve who were called, Christ knew who were His chosen ones, i.e. His true elect. “I know whom I have chosen.” (See II Tim. 2:19)3. The treachery of Judas was done according to prophetic Scripture. (Psa. 41:9)
a) Christ knowingly took one into His family who was destined to be a traitor, and did not prevent it, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
b) Though this did not at all lessen the offence, the knowledge of this fact did prevent the others being offended.

B. HE GIVES THEM A REASON WHY HE TOLD THEM OF JUDAS’ TREACHERY IN ADVANCE. (VSE. 19)
1. He told them beforehand so that rather than be a stumbling-block to them, it would further confirm that Jesus was Messiah.
2. This confirmation would result first, from Jesus’ own foresight of things to come, and second, by the application ofthe types and prophecies of the Old Testament. (Luke 24:25, 26; Acts 3:18: John 19:28)

C. HE GIVES A WORD OF ENCOURAGMENT TO THE DISCIPLES. (VERSE 20)
1. The betrayal of one would not diminish the usefulness or the effectiveness of the faithful.
2. This was said to encourage the disciples, and also as a message to any who might be loath to receive them because of the defection of Judas.
3. Note, the rejection of Christ’s messengers whom He sends is rejection of Christ. (Matt. 10:40; II Cor. 5:18, 20)

II. JESUS MORE PARTICULARLY MAKES KNOWN THE PLOT THAT WAS BEING HATCHED, CAUSING HIS DISCIPLES TO ENQUIRE AS TO WHICH ONE WAS THE TRAITOR. (VERSES 21-26)

A. IT WAS WITH GREAT GRIEF THAT JESUS SOLEMNLY TESTIFIED THAT ONE OF THEM WAS THE TRAITOR. (VERSE 21)
1. Christ knew it, for nothing is hid from Him, and He knows what is in man.
2. He made it known for sake of the rest, but also for sake of Judas himself.
a) That he might take warning, and recover himself out of the devil’s snare.
b) Jesus had already before this appealed to Judas. (John 6:70, 71)
c) Either sinners will take heed and turn in time, or it will aggravate their condemnation.
3. Our Lord was grieved in spirit as He made known that one of them would betray Him. Surely the defection of anyprofessed believer is a grief to Him.

B. THE DISCIPLES WERE ALARMED AT THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, AND IMMEDIATELY BEGAN TO LOOK ONE UPON ANOTHER. (VERSE 22)
1. They did not look with suspicion at each other but they looked upon one another as if to say, “How can this be?”
2. They were struck with horror, as they looked into the faces of their fellows.
3. Far from casting suspicions on each other, “They were exceeding sorrowful, and began to say unto him, Lord is it I?” (Matt. 26:22)

C. THE DISCIPLES WERE SOLICITOUS TO GET JESUS TO EXPLAIIN THIS, AND TELL WHO HE WAS REFERRING TO. (VERSES 23-26)
1. Of all the disciples John seemed the best choice to ask. (Verse 23)
a) He was known as “The disciple whom Jesus loved.” He loved them all (Verse 1), but John was especially dearto Him.
b) He was seated next to Jesus at the table, and was at the time leaning on Jesus’ bosom.
c) The same was the penman of the story, and, as was his manner, he concealed his name but we know it was John.
2. Of all of the disciples, Peter was most eager to know. (Verse 24)
a) Sitting at some distance from John, he gestured by some signal or other to John to ask.
b) Peter was generally the most forward and aggressive of the disciples.
c) In this case, he may have been desirous to know that it was not himself.
d) It appears that Peter wished the question to be whispered quietly, otherwise he would have asked it himself.
3. The question was asked accordingly. (Verse 25)
a) John here regarded his fellow-disciple’s request, which was also the concern of the others, including himself.
b) John’s familiarity with Jesus did not diminish his reverence for Him. “Lord, who is it?”
4. Christ gave a speedy answer to the question. (Verse 26)
a) He promised to reveal who it was by a sign.
b) “Jesus answered,” not to John only, but as Mark records, “Jesus answered and said unto them, it is one of thetwelve that dippeth with me in the dish.” (Mark 14:20)
c) He answered by sign, because it was the fulfilling of Scripture.
d) We can detect false brethren not because the Lord names them, but by their fruit and spirit.

III. THE TRAITOR HIMSELF, INSTEAD OF BEING TURNED FROM HIS WICKED PLAN WAS THE MORE CONFIRMED IN IT. (VERSES 27-30)

A. THE DEVIL HEREUPON TOOK FULL POSSESSION OF HIM. (VERSE 27a)
1. The exposure and warning was to him a savour of death unto death.
2. The devil was in him all along, and the purpose to betray his Master was now ripened into a fixed resolution.
3. Though the devil is in every wicked person (Eph. 2:2), yet sometimes he enters more manifestly and powerfully than at other times.
4. Betrayers of Christ are particularly agents of the devil, and their sin is particularly hellish and greater than any other. (Matt. 26:24)
5. “After the sop Satan entered.” Satan, knowing that he was discovered, was desperate in his resolution.
6. Many are made worse by the kindness of Christ, and thereby confirmed in their impenitence.

B. CHRIST HEREUPON DISMISSED HIM TO GET TO HIS TREACHERY WITHOUT DELAY. (VSE. 27b)
1. Jesus here abandoned Judas to the power of Satan.
a) All efforts to convict and turn him had failed.
b) Since he was resolved to ruin himself, there was no need for further delay.
2. Jesus here again reveals that the hour had come when He should accomplish that for which He came. (Ch.12:27; Luke 12:50)

C. THE DISCIPLES DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MEANT. (VERSES 28, 29)
1. Some think that Jesus whispered to John, “He it is to whom I shall give the sop,” so that the others did not hear, and therefore did not know the intent of what was here said. However, the other Gospels make it clear that He spoke those words to them all, including even Judas. (Matt. 26:21-25; Mark 14:20, 21) Plus, “no man at the table” would also include John, for he was obviously one of the men at the table.
2. More likely, they did not suspect that the hour was at hand when this awful tragedy should occur.
3. John tells us what some of them thought Jesus might have been instructing him to do. (Verse 29)

D. JUDAS HEREUPON SET OUT VIGOROUSLY TO PROSECUTE HIS DESIGN AGAINST CHRIST. (VERSE 30)
1. He went without delay; “presently.”
2. It was night when he went out. This was fitting, for never was there a great work of darkness than this.
3. That one could spend three years in the company of Jesus Christ, sit under His wonderful teaching, witness His life of continuous goodness, and experience His unchanging kindness and love, and then sell Him out to his murderers is a thing most difficult to understand.
4. The fact of it stands as a solemn warning.
a) It serves to remind us how desperately hardened and wicked the human heart can become when all restraints are removed so that it “beats as one” with the evil heart of Satan, who is absolute evil.
b) It serves to warn us that it is possible for one to profess true religion, keep company with God’s people, sit under the very best of teachers, even hold office in the church, and yet not be the Lord’s at all.
c) It serves to warn us that prolonged disobedience to the Gospel can be very dangerous. Where the hearer’s heart is not being softened and brought to repentance and faith in Christ, it may well be that it is becoming more hardened in unbelief.
d) It serves to encourage a better use of the great privilege that is ours in hearing the Gospel. (Isa. 55:7; Heb. 3:7, 13; 4:7)

MAY 6 / MAY 13, 2018

JESUS WASHES THE DISCIPLES’ FEET

INTRODUCTION:

1. We now begin one of the most interesting portions of John’s Gospel. For five consecutive chapters we find him recording matters which are not mentioned by any of the other Gospel writers. The contents of these chapters have been rightly considered one of the most precious parts of the Bible. Jesus’ public discourses now finished, His words and actions recorded in these chapters, all taking place in the final hours before His arrest, were for the benefit of His disciples – His little groups of followers; and have been a source of comfort and strength for all true-hearted Christians for two thousand years.
2. In this passage before us we have the story of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. This was an action of a singular nature, which, along with the discourse which followed, took place the same night in which He was betrayed; at the same sitting wherein He ate the Passover and instituted the Lord’s Supper, but after Judas had gone out.
3. Why would Jesus do this? A wise man will not do something that seems odd and unusual but for very good cause and consideration, but what cause and consideration?
a) That He might testify and demonstrate His patient and continuing love for His own in an act of condescending humility. (Verses 1-5)
b) That He might signify the spiritual washing referred to in His exchange with Peter. (Verses 6-11)
c) That He might set them an example. (Verses 12-17)
4. In opening up these reasons the whole story is expounded.

I. HERE WE SEE WHAT PATIENT AND CONTINUING LOVE IS IN THE HEART OF CHRIST TOWARD HIS PEOPLE. (VERSES 1-5)

A. IT IS AN UNDENIABLE TRUTH THAT JESUS, HAVING LOVED HIS OWN, LOVED THEM TO THE END. (VERSE 1)
1. This is true of the disciples that were His immediate followers, in particular the twelve.
a) These were His own in the world, His family, His inner circle.
b) They were weak and defective, and often needed His reproof, yet His love for them was unchanging.
2. This is true of all believers.
a) The love of Christ for sinners is the very essence of the Gospel. That He could love sinners is wonderful indeed. But the love of Christ for saints is no less wonderful – that He should bear with their countless infirmities and never tire of them or grow weary in loving them.
b) These twelve patriarchs were representatives of all the twelve tribes of God’s spiritual Israel.
c) Our Lord has a people in the world that are His own. They are His own because they were given to Him by the Father. (John 6:37) They are His own because He purchased them for Himself. (Tit. 2:14)
d) Though His own nation did not receive Him, yet to as many as did receive Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God, and thus, His own brethren. (John 1:11, 12)
e) Let us take great comfort and rejoice to know that while we are in the world, we are never separated from His love and care. (Rom. 8:35-39)

B. JESUS EXPRESSES HIS UNENDING LOVE FOR HIS OWN AT THIS TIME BECAUSE THE TIME HAD COME WHEN HE SHOULD DEPART OUT OF THE WORLD. (VERSES 1-3)
1. Because now “He knew that his hour was come,” – the time in which He would be offered had come, after which He would rise form the dead and ascend back to the Father. (Verse 3)
2. It is striking that following Verse 3, “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands,” we see Him washing the disciples’ feet. Perhaps, as many believe, He seized the last opportunity before returning to the Father to give His disciples a practical example of His love and humility. What better time to show the depths of that humility than after knowing that all power was now given to Him in heaven and in earth. (Matt. 28:18)
3. That His hour was come was also signaled by His knowing that the devil had put it into the heart of Judas to betray Him. (Verse 2)
a) Nevertheless, “Jesus…having loved his own…he loved them unto the end.” Judas’ betrayal did not change or diminish Christ’s love for those that were truly His.
b) This Judas, we must always remember, was one of the twelve. For three years he walked in Christ’s society. Yet here we see he was a complete hypocrite, possessed by the devil. As much as it grieves us to witness the defection of fellow disciples, let us not imagine that Christ’s love for His own is lessened at all.

C. JESUS, IN A SHOW OF GREAT HUMILITY, MAKES PREPARATIONS FOR WASHING HIS DISCIPLES’ FEET. (VERSES 4, 5)
1. The minuteness with which every action of our Lord is related is very striking. Seven details are here named by one who was there as an astonished and admiring eyewitness.
2. What is also striking is that He Who knew that all things were given into His hands, that He came from God, and was returning to God, should stoop to perform this lowly service. (See Gen. 12:4; I Sam. 25:41; I Tim. 5:10)

II. CHRIST WASHED HIS DISCIPLES’ FEET THAT HE MIGHT SIGNIFY TO THEM SPIRITUAL WASHING. (VERSES 6-11) There is a spiritual washing which is once for all, not to be repeated, and there is a spiritual washing which must be often repeated. The one is the washing of regeneration which is forever, and the other is the daily washing from the defilements of an earthly sojourner. The one has to do with our justification by which we are clothed in Christ’s spotless righteousness, and the other has to do with our sanctification which involves daily washing. Both of these washings are intimated in our Lord’s exchange with Peter in the following verses.

A. NOTICE PETER’S SURPRISE WHEN HE SAW HIS LORD PREPARING TO WASH HIS FEET. (VS. 6)
1. Though some suggest that Jesus washed Judas’ feet first, it is more likely that He began with Peter. “Then cometh he unto Simon Peter…”
2. Peter responded with an expression of disbelief and objection. “Lord, dost thou wash my feet?” Literally, “Dost thou, of me, wash the feet?” – meaning, “Dost such a one as thou art, wash the feet of such a one as I am?”
3. This was an exclamatory question, much like that of John the Baptist when Jesus came to his baptism. “Comest thou to me?” (Matt. 3:14)

B. NOTICE JESUS’ ANSWER TO PETER’S QUESTION OF SURPRISE AND OBJECTION WAS SUFFICIENT TO SILENCE HIS PROTEST. (VERSE 7)
1. Peter was at present in the dark concerning it and ought not to have opposed an action of His Lord that he did not understand. “What I do thou Knowest not now.”
2. There was something considerable in this of which he would hereafter know the meaning. “Thou shalt know hereafter.”
3. These words apply, of course, to the situation at hand, which in a few minutes Christ would explain so that all would then understand His actions, but they also have a much broader and far-reaching application, as Christians of every age since have come to realize.

C. SEE HERE HOW PETER PERSISTED IN HIS REFUSAL UNTIL HE LEARNED THE MEANING OF THIS SYMBOLIC GESTURE FROM HIS LORD. (VERSE 8)
1. Peter emphatically refused. “Thou shalt by no means wash my feet; no never.” So it is in the original.
a) Here is a show of humility which was, no doubt, out of genuine respect for the Lord. (See Luke 5:8)
b) But, many are beguiled of their reward in a voluntary humility, such a self-denial as Christ neither appoints nor accepts. (Col. 2:18, 23)
2. Christ insisted upon His offer and argued most convincingly why Peter should submit. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me.”
a) This action was symbolic of that spiritual washing without which none can be saved. (Tit. 3:5)
b) The great question for everyone is this: “Am I washed; am I justified?”

D. PETER’S MIND WAS SUDDENLY AND THOROUGHLY CHANGED SO THAT HE WENT TO THE OPPOSITE EXTREME. (VERSE 9)

E. CHRIST THEN FURTHER EXPLAINED THE SPIRITUAL WASHING REPRESENTED BY THIS SIGN. (VERSE 10)
1. Jesus here explains that the initial washing of regeneration need not be repeated. Once joined to Christ and cleansed in His blood we are completely absolved, and free from all spot of guilt before God.
2. But, for all this we need every day as we walk through this world, to confess our daily failure, and plead for daily pardon. We require, in short, a daily washing of our feet, over and above the great washing of justification. “The devil allows no Christian to reach heaven with clean feet all the way.” – Martin Luther

F. THIS SYMBOLIC WASHING COULD DO NOTHING FOR HIM WHO WAS NEVER WASHED. (VERSES 10, 11)
1. “The traitor, Judas, though washed by the hands of Christ, was filthy still.” – Burgon.
2. Jesus knew the real character of all of His disciples, and thus, “He knew who should betray him,” literally, “the person betraying him.”
3. He knows what is in man (John 2:25), and He knows the character of all who profess to know Him.

III. CHRIST WASHED THE DISCIPLES’ FEET TO SET BEFORE US AN EXAMPLE. (VERSE 12-17)

A. ONCE THE WASHING WAS DONE, IT WAS TIME TO MAKE APPLICATION. (VERSE 12)
1. It seems after the conversation with Peter, all submitted to be washed.
2. After all had been washed, Jesus took off His girdle and put on again His outer robe and sat down to teach and press home the example.

B. THE GROUNDS UPON WHICH HE PRESSES THEIR DUTY IS VERY STRONG. (VERSES 13-16)
1. He, the Master had washed his disciples’ feet.
a) Jesus, knowing that all things were put into His hands, knowing that He is the Sovereign Lord over all, stooped to perform the lowliest act of servitude upon His servants.
b) These men were to take a very high station in the Gospel church, given great power and authority, yet He would remind them that they were not to act as “lords over God’s people,” but be their servants.
2. Since the servant is not greater than his master, should they not also wash the feet of their fellow disciples?
3. Let us perform this service upon our fellow Christians in the spiritual sense, and be willing also to perform its equivalent in the literal sense.