Jesus washing the disciples' feet

… The public ministry of the Lord Jesus toward the nation of Israel closes at the end of chapter 12. There is a significant quotation from Isaiah in verse 40 and 41 where we see the matter closed up completely concerning Israel. In commencing at chapter 13, moving through 14, 15, and 16, and 17, we have remarkable chapters that the Lord Jesus spoke in the closeted position of his own, immediately before he's going to the cross. Now if we are to understand rightly chapters 14 to 17, and the wonderful doctrine that is there brought out for us, concerning the position that you and I are in today, consequent upon the Lord Jesus as man having gone back to the Father, and his having sent down the Holy Spirit. That being the fundamental basis of what the Lord Jesus brings out in these three chapters. But before we enter into the doctrine of those chapters, and one is not doing that tonight, although one would commend it to the study of the Brethren, the 13th chapter of John, I believe, would bring before us the condition of soul that is necessary if we are to practically be in the enjoyment and the good of the doctrine that the Lord Jesus outlines in chapters 14 to 17. Now the commencement of chapter 13 is very vital. Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of the world unto the Father. Now far be the thought that we should ever exclude from this expression the reality of the cross. But let us understand that in the Gospel of John, whilst it is obvious that the cross is a necessity, the Lord Jesus, often in spirit, moves beyond the cross into resurrection, yea, into the presence of his Father again in manhood. And here is one of those verses where I believe it is important to grasp that. Not only the beginning of the verse, but at the end of the verse also. Let me try and illustrate to you what I mean. You remember how that the Lord Jesus previously in this chapter had said, therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life. That obviously is a reference to the cross. But it is absolutely vital that we complete that verse, that I might take it again. His death and the laying down of his life, beloved brethren, was a means to an end. It was not the end. It was the end of his earthly sojourn in manhood in relation to Israel. It was the end of that perfect pathway in which God was glorified. But it was not the final end. It was not that which was before him and the heart of God with a view to his coming into this world. It was a necessity because of the holiness and the righteousness of God on the one hand, and our ruin and our sin on the other. How wonderful, beloved brethren, to view the cross as that which on the one hand has glorified God, and on the other hand has met my every need. What a wonderful thing is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. But this little expression gathers all that the cross, all that the cross involves up in relation to those two things, and moves on to the platform of resurrection, ascension, and his glorification, his departure out of this world unto the Father. Now that is a wonderful expression. There's another one in this gospel in chapter 16 where he says, I came forth from the Father and am coming to this world. Again I leave this world and go to the Father. Do you know that one little verse, it's only part of a verse, do you know it involves all that is in the heart of God. It tells us who he is, he is the Son, because only one who was with the Father could come forth from the Father. And he came into this world that involves his manhood. Again I leave the world that involves his death, and I go to the Father that involves resurrection and ascension. He came out from the Father as a divine person, and he has assumed manhood, and he has gone back to the Father in manhood and as a divine person. Now that is what before him, and if you then grasp that in your affections, I believe the reminder of that verse has a more powerful meaning. Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. What end? Is it the cross? Well yes, it's involved, but you know this expression has the force of a love that was sustained through everything. It was a love that was going to be expressed in the giving of itself on the cross. It was a love that would gather them, those disciples, to him the few days that he was with them in resurrection. It was a love that would embrace them during the period of the which he was gone into heaven and they were still on earth. It was a love that would care for the saints of God of this present dispensation through this particular time, and look after their every need. It's a love that would come out from the glory of the rapture and grasp those owned to himself. It's a love that would take that same company into the presence of the Father. And it's a love that would have them for itself, for himself. And it's a love that will love them right through the ages of eternity. It's a love that will never know an end. It's the love of Jesus. It's the love of God that was expressed in his person in this world. Now the great truth that begins just here is this. He was going back to the Father. The disciples didn't grasp this of course. They grasped it afterward and they were to be left alone in this world. That is apart from him. And you and I are in that position today. He is in the glory. We are here on earth and that's the setting of this chapter. He was going there to prepare them a place. That's chapter 14. In chapter 13, he prepares them for the place that he was going to prepare. Let's put it a bit simpler. Chapter 14, he prepares the place by his going there in manhood. But in this chapter, he prepares you and I in order that we might enjoy that place now. Now one of the things that we will have to see very clearly in the teaching of feet washing is the difference in scripture between cleansing by blood and cleansing by water. Unless we grasp this, we will not understand the teaching of this chapter. Now the Lord Jesus, it may be that he refers to cleansing by blood when he said, you are clean. You are washed. That means cleansed all over. There may be a reference to it. It may be that there isn't. It could be that that expression means also that, how should we call it, that cleansing that has been brought about by the fact that we've been born of God. However, the idea behind cleansing by blood is once and for all. It is that which makes every believer, though he, in regard to his work, his walk and his service, may become contaminated and dirty, it alters not. The blood answers completely to God in regard to the matter of the sin of the believer and is once and for all. It is never applied again, so to speak. God is satisfying in regard to the matter of the sin and sins of the believer on account of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are washed. That is not the subject of John chapter 13. A very interesting study in the gospel of John, and you can check this out, and you'll have to read carefully and you'll have to read hard, but do you know that there is a reference or an allusion to water in every chapter of John's gospel? Every chapter you will find a reference or an allusion to water. Water is a cleansing agent and in scripture it is used as typical of the word of God applied to the believer in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now this is what we call not judicial cleansing, that is by blood. This is what we call moral cleansing. It has to do with our ways and our walk and consequently it has to do with our responsibility. However, we'll move on down the chapter. Verse three, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and he went to God. Again, an all-embracing verse. Everything given into his hands. Do you know, beloved brethren, I continue to marvel at the way scripture presents itself. It is impossible for us to gather up in our affections or in our minds what is involved in this verse when it says the Father had given everything into his hands. But the thing, beloved brethren, that appeals to me is that immediately following this verse, which is incomprehensible, we see those hands washing the disciples' feet. Does it not appeal, beloved brethren, to your affections that the hands that hold the universe will govern it, will control it? Those hands that the Father has entrusted everything to, his glory, my blessing, those very same hands are concerned with my being clean whilst I move through this world. And here the Lord Jesus, he goes through this little ceremony. But before we just look at it, and I'm going to move quickly down these verses, at least I'm going to try to, let us see two things. First of all, I'll try and explain to you, in case some of you don't understand, what was normal, as far as tradition was concerned, at the Jewish Passover. And also to underline this. Whilst it is obvious from verse 14 that the Lord Jesus here was setting an example of humility to his own, and the way that we can serve one another in regard to doing such a task, let us underline the fact that on the basis of verse, um, sorry I've just lost it, verse 7, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. On the basis of that verse, let us emphasize that there is, that feet washing is not just an example of humility, and of service. It has a spiritual significance. And if we do not see the spiritual significance and teaching behind this example, we will miss the real blessing that there is involved in it. Do you know, if you read John's gospel carefully, again and again and again, you will come up against the fact that the Jews did not understand what the Lord Jesus was saying, because they reasoned out his words by the natural mind. You take, for instance, John chapter 6. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? How can we drink his blood? You remember that the Lord Jesus says in that very same chapter, the words that I say unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. And again and again and again, we have to understand that if we are to be intelligent as to the real meaning of scripture, we have to view it in a spiritual way, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Because if we just look at it as natural men, we will make no more of it than an unbeliever in the world. And that, beloved brethren, and I say this with real feeling in regard to my younger brethren, that is one reason why there is no point at all in listening to men explaining the Bible who are not born again. Because they cannot see it. They cannot see it. It requires a nature given of God, and it requires the power of the Holy Spirit for scripture to be intelligent and intelligible to us. However, let us go quickly down this chapter. Let me commend to you a little Bible study, something that was given to me by a dear brother, and when I saw it and went through it, it never left me. If you look at the detail that is given to us of the Lord Jesus from verse 4 to the end of verse 5, I think you will find there are six things that he does. And if you read, for instance, Philippians chapter 2, commencing with made himself of no reputation, moving down to that little verse, even the death of the cross, you will find likewise that there are six things said of him. And if you look, if you write down these six things in each verse and put them together, I believe you will see a meaning of Philippians 2 perhaps that you haven't seen before. He riseth from supper and laid aside his garments. Have you ever tried, beloved brethren, to explain what is meant by he emptied himself? He made himself of no reputation. Think, beloved brethren, for a moment of the dignity of that glorious man. He rose up from that place where he was sitting, he who was God. He who was God. Thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He took off his outer garment and he laid it aside. That didn't alter his person, did it? Didn't alter his person. If I was to take off my coat, I would still be Geoffrey Brett, wouldn't I? But, beloved brethren, that glorious person, when he moved out of the exterior glory of Godhead, he but just took off his garment. And he was found in manhood. It didn't alter his person. It might have altered his form, but it didn't alter his person. And he took a towel. Yes, that person, when he came from Godhead's fullest glory, he was found in this world as a man. A towel, you know, is the implement of service. He who in his form was God, it is also said as to his form became a servant. There is a truth which is absolutely incomprehensible. He was as much God as he was a servant. That hasn't got to do, that word, by the way, hasn't to do with what is outward. It has to do with what is inward. For such a person assumed manhood. He took a towel and girded himself. So, in those three little expressions, you've got his laying aside his garments, he humbled himself. He emptied himself. And he took a towel, he became a servant. And he girded himself and he was found in fashion as a man. And after that, he poured water into a basin. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. You know, the pouring out of water is used in the Old Testament as expressive of human weakness. Was it the children of Israel who said to Samuel, we are as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up, or was it David? And the Lord Jesus was found as to his manhood in that condition of human weakness, as to his manhood. And in that condition, it says, he humbled himself. He was never humbled. It was something he did of his own volition. He humbled himself, just in exactly the same way here. Nobody forced him to wash his disciples' feet. There was a motive behind the action. It was voluntary from himself. There was inward feelings that were going out toward that little company. That led him to take this position of servitude. And he began to wash the disciples' feet. He became obedient unto death. Do you know, if you just stop there for a moment, beloved brethren. Began to wash the disciples' feet. There the water of the basin was taken by his hands and applied to the disciples' feet. It was taken by his hands and applied to their feet. But if you just equate that with that little expression, he became obedient unto death. Do you know, beloved brethren, I don't think there's anything that will have such a cleansing effect upon my ways and my walk and my actions as consideration of the suffering love of the Lord Jesus that took him to death. It will have a cleansing effect upon us if we meditate upon it. But he doesn't stop there. After that he had done that service, he says he took that towel that was round about his loins. Think of it, beloved brethren. There's no harm in sitting down and just imagining this scene. Do you think of it, beloved brethren, that towel that was round his loins brought forward into his hands and grasping their feet. Isn't it wonderful to think that there is something that goes round about himself that comes into his hands that would grasp my feet in order that I might be suitable to him in all that I say and do and where I walk. But then it says, and he wiped them with the towel wherewith he was girt. You know, the towel would remove all evidence that the water had been necessary and would put them completely at ease. And there you come to the end of it. There you come to the end of it. What is it that thrills and satisfies the soul that gets lost in the love of Jesus? It is the realization that precious love took him even to the death of the cross. Even to the death of the cross. Therefore Peter couldn't understand this. And you know, I often think about Peter. What a wonderful character he was. We commented the other evening in our Bible reading, you know, that it's surprising how much we learn of men who failed in the scripture. We mentioned Jodah and Jacob. What a failure he was. And yet he's the only man in the 11th of Hebrews of whom it says that he worshipped. We thought about David. How terribly he sinned and dishonoured God. How terribly he suffered. But that's the man that God says he's after, my own heart, and look at Peter, and we'll touch him before we've finished the night of the Lord's work. He denied the Lord with oaths and curses, but he's the only man in the New Testament of whom it is recorded that he glorified God in his death. We learn a lot from men who fail. It teaches you two things. Our own weakness, and our own failure, and our own inability to do anything in our own strength. But it teaches us the marvel of the love of God, the faithfulness of God, the mercy of God, that whenever you find yourself flat on your back, you know, you've got to get up and walk. You've got to get up and walk. You've got to get up and walk. You've got to get up and walk. You've got to get up and walk. That whenever you find yourself flat on your face, we'll come down beside you and lift you up, because that is the love that a man, I believe, like Jacob, understood of it. A man like David certainly knew experimentally in his life, and certainly the likes of Peter did here. So here Peter, once again, he's taken up with the person of the Lord Jesus, and he says, Lord, thou shalt never wash my feet. And the Lord has to tell him, Peter, you're looking at things naturally. You've done it several times. You tried to divert me from the cross, and I had to tell you, your mind is on the things of men, not on the things of the spirit. You went to sleep in the garden. Oh no, that's after this, isn't it? But it doesn't matter. And he says, I had to tell you, your spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And once again, here, Peter was looking at what the Lord was doing through natural eyes, and he had right feelings about it, but he didn't understand it. And the Lord had to tell him, but after the descent of the spirit, because that's what is involved here, thou shalt know hereafter, he was to understand what was involved and what the Lord was doing. And the Lord Jesus intimates it here. Now what does that mean? I'll tell you one thing it doesn't mean, discipleship. There's no discipleship here. Let us go back to what we said at the beginning. The hour had come when he should leave the world and go to the Father. Part of the world. When he should leave the world and go to the Father. Part with me. Where? Down here? No, that's discipleship. Where I am going. What does it mean? It means, beloved brethren, that in the power of the Holy Spirit, there is to be made available to the believer whilst we are on earth, the reality and the experience of having part with Jesus where he is. And the Lord Jesus says that unless I wash thee, that cannot be. So it's got nothing to do with that which is formed by the power of the Holy Spirit, consequence upon the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus as to the soul. Because, beloved brethren, at the rapture we will all have part with him. Every believer will have part with him. And there won't be any degrees or measure about it. It will be complete. Because at the rapture we will be above the cloud. So there will never be a cloud come between him and me because we will be above the cloud. Clouds obscure. Clouds make it foggy. You can't see through a cloud. But at the rapture we shall see him without a cloud, face to face. But here we haven't arrived at the rapture. It hasn't to do with that. It has to do with my in spirit being where he is now in the presence of the Father. Peter seemed to get a hold of this and so he asked for the Lord to wash him all over. And there the Lord Jesus, who will now pass on, explains the difference between being washed and made clean completely by his blood or by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit giving us a new life and being morally clean as to our walk and our ways in order that we might enjoy holy, heavenly and divine things even now. But let us not leave the little section without again touching on this practical application of the Lord's example. If I then your teacher and Lord have washed your feet. You notice that he turns it around. He called me teacher and Lord. If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet you ought also to wash one another's feet. You know this little matter of washing our feet. Let me just tell you quickly what was involved in the Passover. A godly Jew when he was going to partake of the Passover would wash himself all over. You'll find the instructions for that in the Old Testament. In his own house. He would then go to where he was going to keep the Passover. But before he actually partook of the Passover he would once again wash his hands and feet. Why? Because he had become defiled. He had moved through this world. That's it, beloved brethren. We become defiled because we move through this world. We can't help it. We can't help it. We have a very poor appreciation of what sin is in the sight of God. I'll give you one example. My uncle often used to quote it. The thought of foolishness is sin. The thought of foolishness is sin. The thought of foolishness is sin. If it is not of faith it is sin. Oh beloved brethren, we're defiled every day. We're defiled every day. We move in a dirty place. And we have a nature that is just the same. And we have a nature that is just the same. I mean the old nature. And if we are to enjoy the holiness of the atmosphere of heaven where Jesus is, we have to get rid of that defilement. And how is it done? The power of the spirit of God brings the word home to our hearts and our consciences. And it is thus that we come to self-judgment about this matter. It is thus that our spirits are refreshed. It is thus we are given the ability to turn aside from all that we are as natural men and women in this moment, and to see ourselves as that which has been brought about by the product of the work of God in our lives. In that condition where the spirit of God, unheeded and unquenched, can give us now the ability to rise in spirit to where Jesus is. But you know, we all need one another to do this. The Lord is engaged in this work. John's first epistle makes it perfectly clear. If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. The advocate, by the way, comes in after the sin has taken place. The priest comes in, by the way, to keep us from sin. If you want to know the difference between advocacy and priest, there it is. The priest's work is to keep us in a condition where we won't sin. The work of the advocate takes over when we have sinned. And the Lord Jesus is constantly engaged in this work. But you know, there is given to each one of us. This happy enjoyment. You know, it might be that there's a bit of it going on at the moment. One's desire is that it should be. That all your feet, and mine as well, are being washed as we read the word of God together. As the spirit of God would take these things and bring them home in power to heart and conscience. There's something being affected in our lives if this is the case. We're being cleansed. We're being made suitable in order that the Lord Jesus might have that supreme joy of his, of leading us now into the enjoyment of where he is even now. Might be the giving out of a hymn. It might be that brotherly affectionate putting of an arm round a drooping of shoulder and asking him, and asking him, how are you dear brother? The Lord be with you. Another brethren, let us not pass these things by. When we speak to one another, when we shake hands together, let us with joy embrace one another. Let us encourage one another. Let us speak of holy, heavenly and divine things. Let us cheer one another. And it is thus I believe that a bit more feet washing will go on. In our midst and the Lord will be glorified by it. But you know the rest of this chapter is very instructive too. There are three men that come before us. I'm not going to say much about Judas. I'm going to say much about Judas. Only to see that at a moment like this, there was one so ostensibly near to the Lord, and yet he was not in the good of it at all. He had no part in it. He was an imposter. There perhaps is the first professor in Christendom. There was, right at the beginning of things, a man who looked part of the company, but was not in it at all. Verily, verily, one of you shall betray me. What pathos there is in those words. What a stabbing to the heart in the affections. How he felt it in the soul. One of you shall betray me. But you know what grace? What grace? Oh, you know, the ways of Jesus are sublime. You know, if you read through the rest of this chapter and the other gospels, and you see what the Lord Jesus had to contend with in the upper room. He was Judas. Did the Lord point him out? No. Did the Lord publicly denounce him? No. A little bit further on, he allowed him to kiss him. Friend, betrayer of the Son of Man with a kiss. He didn't publicly denounce his worst enemy. There's an object lesson for us. There were the disciples squabbling amongst themselves who should be the greatest. Did you brag them? He said, it shall not be thus with you. I am amongst you as one that serveth. Peter, you're going to deny me? I've prayed for you. I've prayed for you. There was a character that was never seen in the first man. There may be occasional glimmer of trace of the product of creation in any man. But here was love, love that came from the heart of God. What an object lesson we have. Peter tells us, it did him good because when he wrote a letter about it, he says he's left us an example that we should follow in his steps. And here we see those steps that took him to the cross. The disciples didn't know of whom the Lord spoke. And here we come across two men, Peter and John. And I will crave just a few minutes of your time to speak about them. John. Peter, of course, wanted to know who it was. He was that sort of person. He never could wait and see. And he beckoned to John. Now where was John? He got his head in the Lord's lap. Because that's what it actually means. You must see here the clear distinction between the breast and the bosom. We don't use that word very much today, and its meaning has changed. So I've put it in language that you'll probably understand. We've got to understand that they were lying, probably reclining on the floor. It is. And John, he got up near to the Lord, and he laid down beside the Lord, and he'd actually laid his head probably on the Lord's lap. Probably on the Lord's lap. There was lying in the bosom of Jesus. That's the real word, in, not on. In the bosom of Jesus. It's the same word that is used concerning the Lord Jesus himself, the Son of Man who is in the bosom of the Father. John got himself near to the Lord. There is the position of intimacy and love. There is the place where we should all be as oft as we can. And there he was, near enough to ask, near enough to receive a secret. And Peter beckoned to him. And John did. He then, lying on Jesus' breast, said, Lord, who is it? You notice how he describes himself? The disciple whom Jesus loved. He uses that five times in this gospel. This is the first one. You look them out. You study them. You, student of scripture, look them up. I'll tell you quickly where they are. Standing at the cross was a disciple whom Jesus loved. Running to the tomb, there was a disciple whom Jesus loved. In the boat, when Peter went fishing, the disciple whom Jesus said, loved, said, it is the Lord. And right at the end of the gospel, when Peter turned round and saw another disciple following and said, what shall this man do? It's that disciple whom Jesus loved. You look at them. You look at John in these five positions. They're remarkable positions. What was it that sustained him in those positions? He was the disciple whom Jesus loved. What does that mean? That the Lord loved him more than Peter? Doesn't mean that at all. At least, I don't think it does. Because you remember, it is not Peter that said this of John. It is what John wrote of himself. It means very simply this, beloved brethren. He had a tremendous, profound impression of how much Jesus loved him. And consequently, he calls himself that, the disciple whom Jesus loved. And because of that, he laid his head on the Lord's lap. Ask him who it is. And then it says, he said, it is the Lord. Who it is. And then it says, he then laying on Jesus' breast. Well, in all probability, he raised himself up a little bit and probably got himself nearer to the Lord's shoulder. But there's a difference. There's a reason in these two things. The bosom is the place of intimacy and love. The breast is the place of sustainment. And I don't know whether you know this, but the Old Testament name, the Almighty, the El Shaddai, the word itself comes from that Hebrew word, which means the female breast. The Almighty is the sustainer. And that is the word that is used here. You see, the enemy was there. The enemy was there. And in the presence of the enemy, beloved brethren, we need sustaining. We need sustaining. And John, he moves up onto the Lord's breast. I'm speaking spiritually, I trust, not naturally. And he draws upon the Lord and he says, Lord, who is it? And the Lord says, he, it is to whom I should give a sob. And you know that in itself is a marvelous display of grace. Do you know what is meant by that little expression? They were having supper together. As to whether it was the Passover supper, I'm not sure. Anyway, they were having supper together. And you know, it was customary in Israel that at a supper, a person who was the honored guest would be given, when the head of the house commenced supper, he would take a morsel and he would dip it in the sob. And as a mark of favor to a distinguished guest, he would hand it first to him. Ah, beloved brethren. There was that heart of love that went out even to a man like Judas and handed him the sob. How it should have gone into his soul. How it should have touched his conscience when he realized what was going on in his mind. And here the Lord Jesus show him an act of favor, but he rejected it. And you know what happened then? Satan entered into his heart. Oh, how terrible. He turned away from the grace of God in the face of the Lord. Turned away from the grace of God in the person of Jesus. He said no to it. And Satan entered his heart and he went out. He went out. You study the men in scripture who go out from the presence of God. Do you know the first man who went out from the presence of God? Cain. That's where it begins. And Judas went out into that world that commenced with a murderer. And there was the biggest murderer of the lot. Judas Iscariot. He goes to his own place. He was that sort of man. But he was a man that had come face to face with the grace of God that had come into this world in the person of Jesus. He went out. It was night. You ever wondered why the Spirit of God takes account of geographical and time grid, geographical positions? And a little bit further back, you know, it says it was winter. And here it says it was night. Is it just taking account of natural things? No, beloved brethren. The world is in winter conditions. It's night and it's cold. And it was into such a light and it was into such a world that the Lord Jesus was going. And that was the world that put him on the cross. If you want a description of the world, there it is. Winter, cold, and night. But in that upper room was all the warmth and cheer for the love of God. Well, John was there. Just a word on Peter. Lord Jesus has to tell his disciples, whither I go you cannot come. That obviously is a direct reference to the cross. They could not follow him there. But he does say, I haven't really got time to speak about it. Therefore, when he was gone out, Judas, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified. And God is glorified in him. And that's a reference to the cross. The Son of Man's glory is based upon the truth of the cross. And God, if God be glorified in him, it should be if God has been glorified in him, God will glorify him in himself. That has reference to his resurrection and ascension, and shall straightway glorify him. That has reference to his glory in the presence of the Father. So here you see the end to which we have been speaking, if we can call it an end. There is the cross in which the Son of Man has been glorified. There is the cross in which God has been glorified. And because of it, God has glorified him by raising him from the dead, and taking him into the glory. And God has glorified him along with his own self in the glory. And if you want to read that further in detail, you'll have to move into chapter 17. Little children, as a term of affection, my little ones. He gathers them in his arms and he draws them to himself. He says, little children, he says, a little while I am with you. Here he's pouring out his heart and he's trying to comfort them. You shall seek me, and where I go you cannot come, but he says, a new commandment I give you. Love one another. And what's the standard? As I have loved you. As I have loved you. Don't ever lower that standard, beloved brethren. Your brother and your sister may be the most difficult. They may tread on your toes. They may irritate you. They may say things that you don't like. They may go places that you won't go. They may upset you. But none of those things should hinder this. Love one another as I have loved you. And if you want proof of that, the disciples did all those things to the Lord, but he never for one moment ceased loving them. Thus shall all know that ye are my disciples. I believe that's the greatest testimony that the world can have, that there is amongst the Christian company a reproduction of the love of Jesus. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? And the Lord doesn't tell him directly. But Peter says, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thee. I will lay down my life for thee. Ah, what an ardency there was in Peter. But the Lord has to tell him, Peter couldn't stand that hour. Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. What an object lesson for us too there is in Peter. The thought about John. That intimacy of love that would get us near to the Lord, that would speak to the Lord, that would draw from him. That would keep us right to the end. The Lord said that about that man, didn't he? May not be referring too directly to his person. Obviously, John isn't alive with us today. But you know, that which John testified to will abide to the end. It will, because he brings before us God himself. In all his glory, but in all his grace. What about Peter? Peter would come before us as an example of how often we fail. And surely he failed. But you know, at the end of this gospel, the Lord gave him a remarkable revelation. And it is quite certain that Peter apprehended it in his soul, because he tells us so in his first epistle. How that the Lord had shown him clearly that the time was drawing nigh when he was to put off this earthly tabernacle. Was he afraid? No. Was he afraid? The Lord Jesus tells him in the last chapter. When thou wast young, thou wentest whither thou wouldest. But when thou art old, so knew you to live an old man. When thou art old, another shall gird thee, and take thee whither thou wouldest not. And then the Spirit of God says this. This signifying by what death he should glorify God. By what a triumph. Do you know that's what Christianity does? It changes a man like Peter. Into a person who at his death can glorify God. Just think of it, beloved brethren. Death in this world is the thing, I should say, that shows man how weak he is. How ruined and desperate his condition, and how dishonoring all that he is, and all that he has done to God, because he is under the sentence of death. Sin has brought in death. How wonderful to realize that it is possible that such persons ruined and undone by sin, but at the very moment of human weakness, when sin would seem to prevail over everything else. And it brings the saint of God to that point of death, as to his body. But for Peter, at that very moment, it says of him, or the Lord prophesied concerning him, that he should glorify God. I believe he did, you know. I believe history records that he was crucified upside down. That may sound horrible and despicable, and it is. And I'm not concerned with it. And what I am concerned with it, is that that saint of God glorified God in his death. How like his master. The Lord Jesus has said that if he should glorify God, God would straightway glorify him. And here at the end of this chapter, it's mentioned a man who likewise followed in his master's footsteps. Who likewise followed in his master's footsteps. You know, one of the things that this chapter brings out before us in the following chapters is, that the place that the Lord Jesus has vacated by his going back to the Father, he now puts the disciples into. He's put you and I in the place that was his when he was a man here below. To be here for his God. But not only that, he has given us all the resources that he had in that position. Have you ever thought of that? All that was available to Jesus in his manhood, in his service to God, is available to the saint of God to draw upon. And I'm quite sure that Peter did that, because at the end, he glorified God in his death. So may the Spirit of God help us with these things. Let's just sing one verse. The last verse of number 40. I'll read the first one. O thou great all-gracious shepherd shedding for us thy life's blood, unto shame and death delivered all to bring us nigh to God. Now our willing hearts adore thee. Now we taste thy dying love. While by faith we come before thee, faith which lifts our souls above. Baptised past and Lord, we hail thee crowned with glory on the throne. Just sing the last verse of number 40. …