"The End" Enacted

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Father, that you reveal yourself to us, you speak to us by your word, that every word in this book, the Bible, is the word that you ultimately wanted to have here, and that you are the ultimate author of Scripture, the one who ultimately speaks to us through your word.

So we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would still and quieten our hearts so that we might receive from you this morning. We ask that you would speak deep into the very command centers of who we are.

And all these things we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. So amongst other things this morning, I'm going to talk about the devil.

And I'm going to talk about the devil not because I have a fixation about talking about the devil, but because what we do is we preach through books of the Bible, and the devil is mentioned twice in this text.

And you might say that twice isn't very much out of 38 verses, but the two times are actually very significant, and I wouldn't be serving you if we didn't look at it, because it's important.

And I mention all of this because it's very interesting. Those of you who've led Bible studies or maybe done some preaching before, you always have an interesting week.

I mean, the speaker always has an interesting week when he's going to try to talk about the devil. I don't know what it is. It just seems as if there's more temptations that come my way, more things that just don't work out in my schedule, more reasons to be grumpy or angry or fill in the blank.

And I've had that type of week. It's really as if the devil wants to knock you off your game. He wants to knock you off and either maybe try to dissuade you from talking about the devil at all or just, I don't know, just mess you up.

So that's been my week because we're going to look at some things that the Bible has to say about the devil. And by the way, one of the things that we're going to learn in this is there's a very famous saying from one of the English reformers at the time of the English Reformation.

And he said that the devil never misses church. And he's the one person who never misses the church. The minister might not always be there, but the devil is always there. And some of you as well might have had very, very odd weeks and even now having very odd experiences with your minds filled with all sorts of things.

And if that's what's going on, it's just really good to remember that even though when we gather together in the presence of Jesus to open his word and to be together as Christ's people, that it's a spiritual war that we're involved in at the same time.

It really is. And it's just important to be gripped by the gospel and to call out to the Father to help us. And when we come in, especially if we're wrestling with thoughts of despair or depression or worry or sexual thoughts or anger or whatever it is, to just try to remember that the devil wants to have you think about that the whole time.

And it's a really good opportunity and invitation just to call out to Jesus for help. And he knows your frailty. He knows your frailty.

And he loves you. So let's look at the text. It's John chapter 13. We'll begin at verse 1. And what's happened in the way that John, who's one of the original apostles, the way he chose to write this biography of Jesus is basically from chapter 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.

This is after Jesus' public ministry. This is now Jesus' private interactions just with his disciples. The public ministry has come to an end. It's a Thursday.

Jesus, as he's saying all of these things, knows that he's going to be dead the next day. That's looming very present in his thought that this is going to be a very momentous 24 hours.

And one of the interesting things as well, because Judas is mentioned with significance in this text, is that Judas will also be dead. Not at the same time as Jesus, but within 48 hours, Judas will be dead.

But Jesus knows that he is going to be dying. And this is the private interactions of him with his disciples. And here's how it begins. John chapter 13, verse 1.

Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end.

Now, just sort of pause. And I know this could end up taking us like three hours to read through if I pause after every verse and talk for a bit. But this is a really important part to stop at.

If you're not that familiar with the Bible, the Passover is a hugely significant event in the history of Israel. It's the event where God acts with great power to deliver the people of Israel out of slavery and bondage in Egypt.

And it's what propels them ultimately towards the promised land. And it's during this, and it's a very, very important festival. It's during, just as this festival is beginning, that Jesus is doing this and he's going to die during the Passover.

It's part of the whole overarching symbolism. But the important thing I want to draw out to you is this, it sounds, and this is just, you don't know this in English, but it's there in the original language.

Look at the very last words of verse 1. He loved them to the end. Now that word end is a very interesting word. Those of you who are a bit familiar with Greek, it's, I don't know if I'm pronouncing it correctly, telos, telos.

It's the idea of, it's not just that something's finished. Okay, well, the movie's over, let's do something else. Or okay, my lunch is over, it's something else. It's a word that talks about everything moving towards a purpose, towards an end, towards something that makes, gives meaning to everything.

And that's the word that he's using. But that's not the word that, I mean, that's a very significant word. But if you turn in your Bibles, it's not going to be on the screen. If you turn in your Bibles to John chapter 19, verse 30.

John chapter 19, verse 30. And if you have a Bible like mine that gives you little headings, you'll see that it, just before verse 30, it talks about the death of Jesus. And what's happening the next day is that Jesus is dying on the cross.

And whether this is the very last word that Jesus says or the second last word, I mean, that's because it's in different biographies. This is the very, very important ending in John's gospel.

And you'll see there, it says in verse 30, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. And he dies. And that word that says, it is finished, is basically the same word as the end, only in a different verb tense.

So what John is doing, so when Jesus says it's finished, it's saying it's accomplished, he's saying the telos, the whole purpose, the whole reason of everything that I've gone through in all of my life, my conception in the womb of Mary by God, my time in the womb, my birth, my life, everything that's gone through, it's all moved to this purpose, and I have accomplished everything that it was on my heart and mind and on the heart and mind of God the Father to do, it has all come to its proper end as I hang here on the cross with blood coming out of my wrists and out of my feet and down my head and my back is all scarred.

And as he dies, he has accomplished everything that he means to accomplish. But if you go back to John chapter 13 verse 1, when Jesus says he loved them to the end, it's the same word, it's the same idea.

In other words, what Jesus, what John is doing here, and we're going to look at it obviously a bit more, is he's linking what's now going to happen with what's going to happen at the end.

A way for you to think about it is this, that what's going to be, you just sort of think about it from the perspective of the disciples, okay, and of the high priests and of Pilate and the Roman soldiers and the crowds and Barabbas and what's going to be happening over, and there's going to be some teaching and everything.

You're going to see in a moment that Jesus is going to be aware of the devil being present and he's going to be aware of Judas' betrayal and Judas is going to go out into the night and the soldiers are going to come and Jesus is going to be captured and he's going to be falsely accused and his disciples are going to scatter and he's going to be whipped and he's going to be mocked and he's going to die on the cross and it looks like he's completely underfailed and on the ground, you know, it looks like Pilate is doing this because he's won and the Jewish leaders are doing this and like this because they've won and Barabbas is maybe just having the biggest laugh of his life and getting drunk after he's freed and it's just going to be bloody and it's going to be chaotic and it's going to look like it's a complete and utter failure and everything is just sort of going all this craziness and what Jesus is going to do in the very next story is Jesus is telling his disciples, I am about to go, in a sense, give you from 10,000 feet up in the air, so to speak,

I'm going to basically describe in a simple act and teaching what's really going on. I'm going to help you to understand. You're going to get caught up in the betrayal and the scattering and the fighting and the soldiers and the mocking and the blood.

You're going to get caught up in all of these little details down in the ground but I am going to tell you a story and I'm going to enact something out in front of you so that if you listen and afterwards you'll understand, it's like you're going to be 10,000 feet above the ground and you're going to be with God and God is giving you a very, very, I am God, Jesus giving his disciples a very, very simple image to understand what is really going on.

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus does the same thing but he does it by the Lord's Supper, the institution of the Lord's Supper. He gives them a way to understand from 10,000 feet from God's perspective what's really going on on the ground, what's really happening not just in history but for all eternity because it's happening in two levels both.

It's happening at a spiritual level in terms of all eternity. It's happening in history in real time and John chooses a different story to help us to understand.

Out of the two significant things or more that he did, Jesus did on that night, John says, you know what? I think the other guys are going to talk about this. I'm going to say this because this is also really important to understand.

So what is it? Well, we have to get through something else first. Look at verse 2. So during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.

Now just sort of pause. What this is saying is that, you know, this larger story, this story, this image that Jesus is going to give to help his disciples understand what's really going on, it's going to happen.

It takes into account the reality of the devil. And it's going to take into account the reality of how the devil works with feeble and frail human beings like you and me.

And what he, Jesus is aware of, John is now aware of it afterwards, but Jesus is aware of it at the time, as we'll see, is that the devil has been putting thoughts into Judas' mind.

In fact, another translation for put is cast. It's almost like, you know, like you're fishing. You cast, you cast the hook with the worm and you hope a fish will bite.

It's almost the same type of way to understand. It's as if the devil's fishing your mind and your heart and your will, throwing out those hooks with the worm, seeing if George will bite, because that's what he's doing.

And, you know, you and I can't stop the devil from putting thoughts into our mind and into our heart. But what we do with it is on us.

And that's one of the things that goes on in our lives. You know, it's amazing how often in my own life and in others, I see people snatch unhappiness out of the jaws of happiness.

Like, they could be happy. Things are going well. And then all of a sudden, there's a thought in our head to remind us of that mean thing that somebody did to us before. Or the mean thing our mom said to us.

Or the coach said to us 30 years ago and all of a sudden, on the way to happiness, whoa, our mind is preoccupied with that. Or our mind is, all of a sudden, we're on the way to happiness and then we look at somebody and they, I just discovered how expensive purses are because I bought my wife a purse at Christmas.

I did not realize how much money some people spend on purses. It was a shock to me. Anyway, and listen, if you're a woman trying to impress me with your purse, it is lost on me.

I did not realize that one person might have a $25 purse and a $3,000 purse, right? They both just look black to me. But those of you who are into those things, you know and you understand.

Okay? So, but anyway, so, you know, but you're on your way and all of a sudden you see this $2,000 purse and now you're filled with envy and then you go from envy to feeling lousy about yourself and your prospects and then you go from envy to going, well, I'm better than you and before you know it, happiness is gone.

The devil has cast a little thought into your mind and you grab on it and that's what, that's what's describing here. It's a very important spiritual teaching, actually, just sort of thrown right in here in terms of how the devil works.

But we have to still see whether Judas is going to bite on it. I mean, we know, many of us know the story but that's what's going to happen here in the story is that not only we discover that Judas has been biting on these thoughts that come into the devil's mind, the devil has him hooked at some point in time.

So, verse 3, so remember we said, so this is going to be something that Jesus does to help all of his disciples understand what's really going on and it's a very, very, very important image for some of us.

I'm going to tell you right now, not all of us struggle with shame but some of us, shame is a very, very powerful part of who we are and the following image is a very powerful image for those of us who deal with shame.

So, verse 3, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he, that is Jesus, he'd come from God and he was going to go back to God and he rose from supper, he laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, tied it around his waist, then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

And we'll just sort of pause. So what Jesus does here, it's a bit of a gross image to us, but he strips down to his loincloth and a loincloth would have covered his genitals, but not all of his buttock.

And he strips down to that. And he strips down to that complete, and takes, in other words, the complete humiliating place of the lowest servant. And he washes his disciples' feet.

And that is going to be, that with his explanation that comes, that is the image that Jesus wants us to have in our minds to help us to understand the betrayal and the running and the scaredness and the beatings and the blood and the nails and the whipping and the mocking and the death.

And Jesus wants this to be a story and an image to help us to understand what's really going on. Amidst all the events, that's what we are to understand is happening.

That God, the Son of God, is setting aside his glory and splendor and divine prerogatives. He's setting all of these aside. He's taking the position and the demeanor of the lowest of servants and slaves to clean, to make you clean.

To make you clean. That's what's really going on. We'll unpack that a little bit more in a moment. But it's a very, very powerful image.

And Peter doesn't like it at all. You know, Peter doesn't like it at all. Look at verse 6. He came to Simon Peter who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?

And Jesus answered him, what I am doing you do not understand now. Boy, is that ever an understatement. They don't understand it at all. But afterward, you will understand.

Because you see, Jesus wants us to understand. And Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. And in the original language, this is emphatic. You shall never wash my feet.

It's emphatic in the original language. In the way it's structured. And, and Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you.

Now here he's going beyond just the foot thing and he's saying, if I do not wash you, if I do not make you clean, so to speak, you have no share with me. No participation with me.

No, you're not, in a sense, connected to me. And in light of that, verse 9, Simon Peter, because if there's one thing Simon Peter wants, he has lots of things about him that are weak and frail, but he wants Jesus.

So he says, Lord, not my feet only then, so to speak, but also my hands, my head, like it's an image of what I do, how I think, like all of me. And then Jesus answers in sort of a bit of an elliptical way and he's speaking, of course, in that culture where you're walking on dirt floors all the time and you're walking on dirt and dust and Jesus said to him in verse 9, the one who was bathed, you know, had a bath, does not need to wash except for his feet.

In other words, after they get out of their bath, the rest of them, they're clean from here up, right? But it's completely clean and you are clean because Jesus knows what's going to happen with them and what's going on in their lives and then he says, but not every one of you for he knew who was to betray him.

That was why he said not all of you are clean. See, one of the things which is so powerful about this image, this is an image to help us to understand what's really going on at the crucifixion is that Jesus also washed Judas' feet.

In a sense, with the devil looking on, while the devil is casting hooks with worms into Judas' head, seeing if he'll bite, jiggling it, while that's all going on, Jesus washes Judas' feet as well as the disciples.

It's an act of profound love and an act of love that respects our freedom. Now, I, you know, sometimes in my sermons I talk about shame and stuff like that and that's because I struggled with shame for decades, not just a week, a day, but for decades.

Even as a Christian I struggled with shame and it was one of those things, I don't know how it was, it's probably just in heaven I'll find out, God will just say, George, you are so dense, like you listen to 15 sermons, 150 sermons would have helped, he never listened, never heard, I don't know what he's going to say, but I just didn't ever, it seemed like it took decades for me to start to have a sense about the resources to try to handle, I'd fight against it, but for those of you who struggle with shame, you know, it's that there's something wrong with you.

It's not just that people who don't struggle with shame, they do wrong things, but then they move on. But for those of us who struggle with shame, it's something at the very center of our identity, that there's just something fundamentally broken about me.

And I don't mean here in a scriptural sense, I used to think that, that somehow I'm just experiencing Genesis 3 and on one level I am experiencing Genesis 3, but on another level there's a different thing going on within me, a different type of, an identity that I have, even though I acknowledge the gospel with my head, but an identity that's somehow not touched by what Jesus has done for me on the cross, that even though, yeah, yeah, I'm going to go to heaven, but in the meantime, things just aren't going to work out with me.

There's something wrong about me. There's something that is just dirty. It's just dirty.

And some of us in the room have no idea what I'm talking about, and some of you know very well what I'm talking about. And one of the wonderful things about Jesus and one of the wonderful things about God is that God knows, Jesus knows, that you and I are all different.

And that's why there's different ways that Jesus communicates this profound wonder about what he accomplishes for us on the cross. And for some of us, we struggle with guilt.

And so there's all these images about how Jesus bears our guilt. And for some of us, we struggle with the fear of death. And so there's all these wonderful images about how Jesus brings life. And for some of us, we struggle with darkness.

And there's all these wonderful images about how Jesus brings light. And for some of us, we struggle with a sense that there is something foul about us.

There is something broken. There is something unclean and dirty about us. And so it is that the Bible, Jesus presents us this image that what Jesus is doing for us on the cross, what he's going through is sopping up all that which makes us unclean and foul to make us clean.

That when you put your faith and trust in Jesus, he makes you clean. He makes you clean. And that is the image that he is communicating here.

If you think about it, isn't that so wonderful that Jesus would provide such an image to Judas who is eating the worms that the devil is casting into his mind and heart?

I will make you clean. You know, one of the things I read and thought about different secular things, and there's some help you can get from secular sources about dealing with shame.

There's some help you can get in trying to understand what it is and all of that. But you know, at the end of the day, the secular things to try to help you deal with shame, and they can help you to understand maybe a little bit about where it came from and the shape it takes and the different ways it forces you to act or leads you or encourages you to act.

But at the end of the day, all it can really do is try to make me proud. Because at the end of the day, what it really tries to do is either shift it, don't feel ashamed, because it's really all your mom's fault, or it's really all your dad's fault, or your coach's fault, or your brother's fault, or your boss's fault.

But you know what? You know, in a very fallen way, that can give you a certain type of pleasure to know that it's somebody else's fault, but it actually doesn't really deal with the shame.

And the other thing that secular things often do is just try to say, look in the mirror and say, you're beautiful, you're powerful, you can do it, you're a success, you're wonderful. Well, first of all, isn't that sort of like, yeah, really?

But at the end of the day, it just makes you feel more proud, doesn't it? Like even if it works, it turns you into a narcissist. It turns you into a one who thinks, I'm the guy, I'm the gal, look at me, I deserve applause.

And get angry when there's no applause. But you see, the wonderful thing here about the gospel is that this story, on one hand, it helps us to understand those of us who struggle with shame.

You know what the Bible is saying? Actually, George, you know you think you're clean and there's something foul about you. You don't know half of it. You're way more foul than you ever believed. Why is it saying that?

Because my need for cleaning must be unbelievably great if Jesus had to go to such lengths to make me clean.

Leaving heaven. Suffering trial and temptation. Dying on the cross. On one hand, the insight of a person struggling with shame doesn't even begin to get to the tip of the iceberg.

But at the same time, Jesus, knowing our need, descends into the absolute depths to make you and me clean.

And if this was just a story, then it's just maybe a variation of what secular things do, of either trying to shift the blame or give you a type of self-talk that gives you the power to just sort of steamroller over your emotions.

And this is maybe doing a different thing by giving you an image to think about that might be helpful. But it's not just an image because you see at the very, very center of this biography is that it's true.

It's a way that Jesus is giving you and me to understand what really happened in history. And in a sense, what not just happened in history but happened in eternity. That God, the Son of God, really did enter our human race.

That God, the Son of God, really did live amongst us suffering the trials and temptations that we suffer only without sin. That God, the Son of God, knows from the inside what it really is like to be tempted and to be feeble and frail and to be troubled.

And that God, the Son of God, really does get betrayed. He really does die upon the cross. He really does taste all there is to taste of death. And on the third day, He really does rise from the dead.

The tomb really is empty. The body was not stolen. Jesus actually does deal with the foulness and the dirt and the shame and the sin.

And He really does deal with it and emerge on the far side alive. He really does deal with it. And He really does offer to make you and me clean if we put our hand out and He crosses that infinite distance towards us.

And for those of us who struggle with shame, we might not even be able to put our hand out like that. It might just be like this. We're out of our hand and we do like this. And He takes the least and He crosses that infinite distance and comes and takes you and me.

And He really does make me clean. This is not just a story for self-talk. It is a story to understand what God, the Son of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit by the pleasure of the Father, God, the Trinity from all eternity, who is love out of love, did for you and me to make you and me clean when we put our faith and trust in Him.

And our identity is clean. Our identity, my identity in Christ, is clean.

Not because of self-talk or powerful emotions or drugs that change my emotions, but because it's true He did it. My identity in Him is clean.

Jesus helps us to understand more.

We'll finish reading the text and then I'll just sort of close because there's still some other important things that come out in the whole back and forward of the story. Look at verse 12. When Jesus had finished, had washed their feet and put on His outer garments and resumed His place, Jesus said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you?

You call me teacher and Lord and you are right, for so I am. Some translations say master and Lord. If I then, your Lord and teacher, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking to all of you, of all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But the scripture will be fulfilled.

It's very important. He tells them the Bible will be fulfilled. See, just as a, before I tell you about this, this is what I'm telling you right now. All I'm doing, I am just a messenger on behalf of Jesus.

I am not an optimist. I am a pessimist in recovery. And all I can do is when Jesus says the scripture will be fulfilled, he's going to share a dark fulfillment, so to speak.

That's what I'm telling you right now by, you are clean if you put your faith and trust in him. The scripture will be fulfilled. God's word will be fulfilled. His word is sure. You can trust it if you put your hand out to him.

But then back to the text, he who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. Then verse 19, I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me. Isn't that what I said? I'm not, you don't have to receive me, it's the message. And if you receive Jesus, you receive him.

And whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.

One of the things which is so wonderful about that, those of you who were here early enough for the beginning of morning prayer, there's a wonderful line in the beginning of morning prayer. It's also at the beginning of evening prayer and it's three different times in the book of Ezekiel.

It's said in the same, slightly different ways, but it's the same message. God takes no delight in the death of a sinner, but rather that they will turn from their wickedness and live. And we see that here in Jesus.

He's taking no delight in the fact that the Scripture is going to be fulfilled. He's taking no delight in the fact that Judas is going to refuse all of these options to repent. It troubles him.

He takes no delight in the death of a sinner. What delights him is when you turn from your wickedness and live. That's what delights Jesus. That's what delights God.

That is who God is. God is not a distant God who occasionally gets mad and wreaks destruction on earth. He's not just a force.

He's not just sort of like a basic woo-woo-woo spiritual type of thing out there that we go to when we die. This is how we know who God really is by Jesus.

Verse 22, the disciples looked at one another uncertain of whom Jesus spoke. They had no idea that somebody was going to betray him that night. They had no idea who it was going to be. Verse 23, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved, that's John the writer, he was reclining at table right beside Jesus, one of the places of honor.

So Simon Peter, not in a place of honor, motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple leaning back against Jesus said to him, Lord, who is it?

Jesus answered, it is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. He would have dipped it into hummus or tabbouleh or something like that.

So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him, that is Judas.

And Jesus said to him, what you are going to do, do quickly. You see, the wonderful thing, it's not that somehow the devil was in the bread. That's not what it's saying. You see, Jesus has already warned everybody that one of them there is going to betray him.

This is Jesus' constant speaking to give Judas an honor. You see, God's desire is always that we repent. That's his fundamental desire for us. He warns Judas repeatedly so that Judas will repent, will turn.

And now in this moment of real intimacy, because that's what it is, if my wife was to come in to a room and I was feeding another woman by my hand, what would her reaction be?

It would be biblical. No. We all recognize that that's a very intimate gesture. And that's, Jesus gives a very intimate gesture to Judas.

And it is that moment of intimacy. It's dark outside. In Jerusalem at that time of the year, it's about 10 degrees. So it's, and that would feel very cold to people who are used to 40 in the summer.

It would feel pretty warm to us today, but it would feel cold to them. It's dark outside. It's cold. They're all huddled around to feast. Jesus and his disciples, the friends, it's a moment of intimacy and it is the moment of intimacy that Judas decides to have the devil go all in and possess him.

And the devil and Jesus are opposites, but they're not equal. The devil doesn't boss Jesus around. Jesus tells the devil what to do. Get it over with.

Be out. Be gone. And the rest of Jesus' teaching now is with the devil gone, the betrayer gone. It's just Jesus and his disciples just to wrap it up.

Verse 31. When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified. He knows the cross is coming and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once.

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me and just as I have said to the Jewish leaders, so now I also say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you.

You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, not by your brilliant apologetics, not by your brilliant preaching, not by your spectacular music, not by your unbelievably wonderful organizational church, but if you have love for one another.

Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? And Jesus answered him, where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward. Peter will die.

Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. And Jesus answered, will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times.

Amen. So just wrap it up with a couple of points to summarize where we've been. If you could put them up, that would be great. The first one is, the true Lord of all creation loves you, and he stooped like a servant to wash you and make you clean forever.

The true Lord of all creation loves you, and he stooped like a servant to wash you and make you clean forever. That's the power of the image. That's what Jesus is saying.

That what's going on in the cross is me, the Lord of all creation. I am stooping and stooping and stooping and stooping, even stooping to the point of death, even stooping to the point of bearing all the sin and the shame of the entire world in my being.

I am stooping lower and lower and lower because I love you. And by my action for you, if you receive it, I will wash you and make you clean forever.

Forever. That means, I stand before you right now, not because of arrogance or pride or narcissism, but because I believe the words of Jesus, I stand before you clean.

clean. That's how I stand before you, in Jesus, clean.

If you could put up the next slide. The Lord and the devil are opposites, but are not equal. The Lord is God. The devil is a fallen creature.

It's a very important thing for us to remember. They are opposites. The Lord stoops out of love to make you clean.

The devil casts worms that you might eat them and become foul and be destroyed. Many people in our culture who are afraid of God are really afraid of an imposter.

They do not realize that who they think of as God and how they describe God is actually they are describing the devil. And they are right to run from him.

But we are to proclaim that that is not the true God. He is an imposter. Then he is but a fallen creature. And Jesus is the one who reveals God to us.

Next point. The Lord loves you knowing full well that you are fallen and frail. The Lord loves you knowing full well that you are fallen and frail.

He knew that Peter would deny him when he washed his feet. He knows your frailty and mine your sin and mine and still he died for you.

And the final point please. First the gospel saves you then the gospel shapes you. First the gospel saves you then the gospel shapes you.

That is what Jesus says here. That as this story of the fact that I am clean because the Lord of the universe stooped to die upon the cross and by his death I don't understand all of the in a sense what went on in it but I understand that what he does it is a profound act to make me clean.

His stooping and loving and stooping and dying and as that story begins to grip us it shapes us to love one another to serve one another to take a turn making coffee to take a turn standing by a cold door so we can use this space to look after snotty nose little nine month olds to serve the poor to take risks that as the gospel first it saves you but as we think upon the gospel more and more and more it shapes us please stand and if you have you know never given your life to Jesus there's no time better than right now to give your life to Jesus and I would just say

Lord be my savior and make me clean that's what I would say you don't have to be very complicated you don't have to remember I struggled I grew up in an evangelical church and I think the minister always used the exact same words and I would think do I have to remember all these words and they're like no just think of John 13 and say Jesus make me clean forever I want to be yours that's all you have to do just listen to Jesus there's no time better than now to do it let's just bow our heads in prayer Father thank you so much that you sent Jesus Father thank you that not only did you send Jesus but Father and Lord Jesus thank you that the Holy Spirit comes to move within us to draw us to Jesus that Jesus draws us to himself Father we just thank you for for all that you have done to save us we thank you for Jesus that he died on the cross it's an act of stooping to make us clean when we put our trust in him and he washes us and makes us clean forever you make us clean forever

Father we ask that you would make us disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel learning to live selflessly and free with love for your glory and all these things we ask in the name of Jesus your son and our savior amen