I just wanted to take a break this evening from our Genesis series to preach something
about Easter and about this timeline.
I feel like since we're meeting here on Wednesday night, what better chapter, what better part
of the Bible to really focus on than the Last Supper itself?
John chapter 13 is a really interesting chapter about the Last Supper and the last moments
of Jesus Christ on this earth.
We have here in verse number 1, the Bible says this,
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He
should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world,
He loved them unto the end.
And that's where I want to draw the title of my sermon and the focus of my sermon is
this last phrase, He loved them unto the end.
Now verse 1 is giving us a timeline, it's giving us an idea of where we're at in the
story but the feast of the Passover is in reference to when they would eat the lamb
that was sacrificed, the lamb that was basically slain and was going to be their Passover lamb.
They eat that on the feast day and the feast day starts at even the following day.
So they've entered into what will be known as the preparation day and it's the first
day of this entire event, however, they don't have the main feast on the first day.
The first day is the day of preparation which is what they're at and basically it was
before the feast when they were going to actually eat the lamb, that true Passover lamb and
when Christ is going to be crucified.
And so this is the night before but Christ knows all these things and notice that Christ
knew that His hour was come.
So notice Christ is realizing this is the last moment I have on earth and in fact He's
within less than a 24 hour window of His physical death.
And this is really an incredible example of love that we have here in this chapter because
Christ is literally facing the most gruesome evil that could ever happen to someone yet
in the last moments of His life He still chooses to serve.
Look at verse number 2, and supper being ended, they've just eaten this meal, the devil having
now put in the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray Him.
Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He was come
from God and went to God, He rises from supper and laid aside His garments and took a towel
and girded Himself.
After that He poured the water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to
wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.
Now what's really interesting about this story is that Jesus Christ when He washes
the disciples feet, Judas is still there.
Can you imagine washing the feet of the guy that's literally about to betray you and knowing
it?
The Bible says that He knew who was going to betray Him, that's why He chose Judas as
this betrayer and He knew he was a devil and He never believed and yet He still is going
to serve all of His disciples and He's going to wash their feet and really this is an example
of love and really loving them.
Notice this unto the end, the very end of His life, I mean the last moments of breath
in His life He was still loving other people and we have four groups that I want to address
this evening.
Number one was His disciples.
His disciples is a group that He loved unto the end, those that are closest to Him, those
that He's ministered unto, those that He's invested into and developed and taught and
loved and shared food with and just everything.
At the very end He decides to lay aside His garments, take a towel, pour water and begin
to wash His disciples feet.
Now this is just incredible because this is literally the God of the universe.
This is the creator of the heaven and the earth is literally humbling Himself in probably
one of the most belittling ways to be a servant washing someone's feet.
This is not a clean job, this is a dirty job.
But what I like about this is while He's potentially going through the worst emotional or mental
crisis that a person could have knowing what's about to happen to him, He is loving them.
He is serving them.
He's getting down on His knees and washing their feet knowing what?
He's about to be betrayed.
He's about to be spit on.
He's about to be beaten.
He's about to have a crown of thorns shoved on His head.
He's about to be whipped over and over and over again.
He's about to have to be forced to carry His own cross which He can't even physically do
all the way out.
He's about to be nailed to the cross and then He's going to die and while He's on that cross
He's going to, oh yeah, bear the sins of the entire world upon Himself.
And God the Father is going to look at His Son who's bearing the sin of the world and
even look away.
The one whom constantly God the Father looked at and said this is my beloved Son whom I
am well pleased, yet at that moment He became sin for us who knew no sin.
Then He's going to go into hell, He's going to literally descend into hell for us.
If someone walked up and said, this is what you're about to do in the next 24 hours, it
might change your emotional state a little bit.
It might affect, people should feel sorry for me.
You don't even know what's going to happen.
But is He feeling sorry for Himself?
Is He doing anything?
It's like He doesn't even know what's going to happen.
That's what's incredible is that while He does know everything that's going to befall
Him and He knows all the Scripture and He knows what God the Father has already commanded
Him and He knows that He's going to go unto the God the Father after He's risen again.
That's what gives Him that hope that His flesh will rest in hope, right?
But you say, how can He do this?
How can He serve other people in this moment?
Well, Christ has an amazing acceptance of the serenity in His life.
And serenity, if you look in the dictionary it says calm or unruffled repose or that peace
that passeth understanding as the Bible describes it.
But I like to describe serenity as, or in the context of this, that you're not worried
or concerned about the things you can't change.
And the reality is, in this moment of being with His disciples, can He change the fact
that later He's going to be betrayed?
No.
Can He change the fact that later He's going to be lied about and falsely accused?
Can He change that?
No.
Can He change the fact that His disciples are going to deny Him?
Nope.
Can He change the fact that He's going to be spit upon and that He's going to have a
crown of thorns shoved on His head and that He's going to be whipped and that He's going
to be beaten and that He's going to have to carry the cross and that He's going to have
to die on the cross?
Is He able to change any of that in these moments?
No.
And so here's the reality of the situation.
Why not live up the last moments that you have, accepting the things that you can't
change?
And I notice that people really struggle with this.
Whenever they find out about anything bad or anything negative or anything they're not
looking forward to doing or having to go through, instead of living the moments up to that,
to the fullest, they just worry about that moment until it finally happens.
I mean, it's just, you know, you find out, oh man, you have to go and basically, this
is more like for school in my mind, you know.
You have to go talk to your teacher tomorrow and you're like, oh man, you're worried about
talking to your teacher or you're worried about dealing with something that's negative
or you have to go talk to your boss or you have to be corrected or something negative
is going to happen to you or you have to go through something difficult or something painful
and you don't really want to go through it.
Instead of just living up the moments that you have until then, you just worry and fret
about that moment.
You're just concerned about that moment.
And so some people get this about their life even.
They're so worried about their death.
But the reality is, none of us know when we're going to die and worrying about it right
now is not going to affect it.
So you know what we better do?
Just love others until the end.
Just stop worrying about all the things that you can't control and start worrying about
the things that you can control.
Because you know what?
Jesus Christ can control, right now, Jesus Christ can control the example that he's setting
for his disciples and you know what?
When they reflect back, they're going to say, wow, Christ knew all that and he got
on his knees and washed our feet?
Then that's what we should do.
That should be the example that we should.
Look at verse number 13.
He called me master and Lord and he said, well, for so I am.
If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet, he also ought to wash one another's
feet.
For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.
Verse 16, verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord,
neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
So he's saying, look, I'm not greater than my father.
He even says in other places of scripture, my father is greater than I.
The Bible teaches that we're obviously not greater than Jesus Christ.
So here's the thing.
If Jesus Christ can get down on his knees and he can literally wash the disciples' feet,
then what excuse do we have to not do it?
Well, I'm above that.
How dare you ask me to do something beneath me or how dare you ask me to serve other people
or love other people or do something for other people?
That would be a very prideful attitude since Jesus Christ can literally do the most demeaning
task at this moment and serve and love other people.
And you say, how can you do it?
Well, look at verse 17.
Here's your key.
If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.
You know what that tells me?
Jesus Christ was happy within the 24-hour window knowing all the evil that was going
to befall him.
And you say, how can you be happy when you know all that stuff's going to happen to you?
Well, when you serve other people, it can make you happy.
He said, well, I feel depressed every single day of my life.
Well, let me tell you something.
It's probably because you're not serving anybody else.
He said, well, I just never feel happy.
Do you love other people?
Are you serving other people?
Are you only concerned about yourself?
Because people that are only concerned with themselves are never happy.
The people that are only concerned with other people are always happy.
Why?
Because you want happiness?
It comes through serving.
It comes through loving other people and doing good.
And even though he's going through a horrible evil time, you know what?
He can still have peace.
He can still have joy.
He can still have happiness.
Why?
Because he's serving others.
Now, let me challenge you this.
If you're going through a hard time right now, if there's something bad in your life
and you're having difficulty, you feel stress, you feel anxiety, you feel depression, you
feel hardship, now you can be happy.
Serve someone else.
Think about somebody else's concerns right now and get down and wash someone's feet.
And I'm not saying this is most the literal interpretation, but just serve other people.
There's a lot of ways that you can serve people beyond washing their feet.
In fact, I don't want any of you to wash my feet, FYI, okay?
And I don't want to wash yours.
But if that was the only option, then we should be willing to, and we should love each other.
But there's other ways to serve people in a humbling and belittling manner.
Some churches literally do this.
And I think that really they're kind of probably missing the point of what this is talking
about.
But at the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with washing someone's feet.
Go to Philippians chapter two for a moment.
Go to Philippians chapter number two for a moment.
Why worry about the things you can't change?
It doesn't make any logical sense.
It's not reasonable.
Yet we do.
Why?
It's human nature.
Human nature, it's natural to worry about ourselves and worry about our circumstances
and concern ourselves with all the evil and the hardships and the difficulty and the struggles
we have in this life.
Yet Jesus is able to show us a great and incredible example of caring for other people while he
knows this evil that befalls him soon.
Philippians chapter two, verse four.
Look not every man in his own things, but every man also in the things of others.
I think some people, they go through their whole life not worrying about other people
or their things.
They only worry about themselves.
Yet this is not the mind of Christ.
The mind of Christ is worrying about other people's things.
That's incredible.
Go to Galatians chapter number six.
Let me show you another verse.
And you know, I think one of the things that's difficult is we sit here and we watch the
United States of America literally destroy itself before our eyes.
I mean, we're literally witnessing just stupidity upon stupidity, just moronic behavior, imbecilic
behavior, things that even a child knows better.
I mean, even a small child knows the difference between a man and a woman.
Even a small child knows, you know, how to manage things more properly.
Even a child knows how to give a speech better than Biden.
Okay.
Let's be honest.
I mean, the atrocities that are happening that we don't even know about.
We realize they're happening, but we don't even know, you know, all the pedophile rings
and all the evil that's happening in our nation, all the destruction.
They keep just printing more monopoly money.
I mean, it's just, we're witnessing an epic destruction of our nation.
You're literally witnessing it.
Okay.
And you're in it.
And it would be easy for you to just start, uh, bemoaning yourself and worrying about
all the destruction around you and worrying about all the evil.
How about just the fact that people are getting away with literal fraud, murder, and deceit
constantly?
I mean, it seems like a Hunter Biden's committing a new felony every day that nobody cares about.
I mean, this guy is just out of control.
I mean, it's incredible the felonies that he's committing.
He like recently lied on like an ATF report saying he's like never done drugs or something
like that.
And it's just like a felony would take any of us to jail for 10 plus years potentially.
Yet, you know, if you're Joe Biden's son, you can get away with murder or whatever.
You know, people they're, uh, lying with Chinese spies and all kinds of election fraud that's
happened from the beginning of our nation probably, but they're just getting away with
this stuff and it's so frustrating.
I get, I get angry.
I'll be honest.
Okay.
I don't know if you get angry.
I get really angry about it.
It really upsets me.
It really disturbs me a lot, but I do know this.
I can't change it no matter what I want.
You know, I can't force them to investigate, you know, all these evils.
I can't get them to start a nine 11 commission for real.
I can't get them to start, uh, you know, balancing the national checkbook, you know, and stop
printing money.
I can't get them to, you know, investigate all the election integrity issues that we
have in this nation.
I can't get them to stop passing wicked laws.
I can't get them, you know, I can't do any of those things, but I, I feel like a lot
of people, that's all they worry about all day.
And you say, who does that?
Anybody that watches Fox news.
Okay.
And you say, what's wrong with Fox news?
Well, look, Fox news is obviously a lot of times on the right side of issues, but here's
the problem with Fox news.
You can't change anything about it.
You can't do anything about it.
So what they do is they just create fear and they just create worry and anxiety and stress
and problems.
I mean, watching Fox news while it's got a lot of lies, it'd be like, if Christ could
just watch, you know, the crucifixion over and over, you know, it's like, that's not
going to help him get through that, you know, it's going to help him get through that washing
other people's feet and, and caring about other people and not thinking about all the
things that are going to happen that are bad.
I mean, do you realize that every single one of you in here is going to die unless you
get raptured?
And that's probably not likely.
I'm just saying, and guess what?
No matter what way you dream it up, it's probably going to hurt a little bit too.
Most people are like, I just want to die in my sleep.
You know, almost everybody dies and it was painful.
I mean, whether it's cancer, whether it was a car accident, whether it was pneumonia,
whether, you know, you died on a motorcycle from COVID accident, you know, it was painful.
It hurt a little bit, you know, and, and, and you can just sit here and be like, I just
hope it's not painful.
99% of the time it's painful.
Did you realize your death's going to be, it might not be, it's not going to be as bad
as Christ.
Most likely.
I mean, I can say that's pretty safe.
Okay.
But it's going to hurt.
Do you want, let's just sit here and worry about that.
No, that's stupid.
It's foolish.
I can't change it.
I don't know when it's going to happen.
I hope I get beheaded because it really, frankly, doesn't seem like it'll hurt that much.
You know, not many people have told me about it hurting, you know, think about that.
They usually never scream that much.
You know, it doesn't seem that bad.
You know, beheading and the reality of death doesn't seem that bad, does it?
You know what can be a good thing to worry about?
Other people.
Look at Galatians chapter 6, verse 1, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such one in the spirit of meekness, considering myself, lest thou
also be tempted, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
I think a lot of people, they're so worried about the burden that they're carrying that
they never consider the burden other people might be carrying.
And the reality is, most of the time, when people are really concerned about their burden,
I could name tons of people that have way worse burdens than them.
And I'm not saying like in the Bible.
I'm saying like right now.
Like people that I know of that have way worse situations, way worse problems, horrible things
that are afflicting them.
And at the end of the day, only one person can have the most burden, okay?
And it's probably no one in this room.
Everyone's always going to have more burden than you.
And even if they don't have more burden than you in a particular area, maybe one area is
really bad, but maybe they have a different part of their area that's struggling.
Maybe somebody has a marriage problem, you don't have that, but you got a finance problem.
Or you don't have a finance problem, you have a problem with one of your kids.
Or you don't have a problem with a kid, you have a problem with a parent.
Or you don't have a problem with a parent, but you have every problem.
People have different kinds of burdens, and you know what?
Our job is to try and bear one another's burdens, and to love other people, and to concern ourselves
with others.
And you know what?
When you're carrying something, thinking about anything else, it becomes lighter.
When you're carrying something and you're thinking about how heavy it is, it gets heavier.
You know, I'll think of this when running, okay?
Whenever I'm exercising, I hate running, but when I'm running and I'm, I escape for a moment,
I'm thinking about my day, I'm thinking about, you know, what I'm going to do tomorrow, what
I'm going to eat, probably, you know, it's like I'm not running, it's not that bad.
But then as soon as I start having those, like the time just starts going real fast,
you know, on this, on whatever, how fast, how far I'm running.
But then when I start thinking about my legs hurting, and my back's hurting, and my neck's
hurting, and you know, every part of my body's hurting right now, and it's burning, you know,
it's like time slows down, and it hurts more, and it's slower, and it's just not as fun.
And the reality is, you know, your life is going to be full of burdens, and they have
a particular weight, but for whatever reason, when you watch a boiling pot of water boil,
it takes forever.
But when you do something else, it goes like that.
And the reality is, your burdens, you're going to get past them really easy when you're worried
about other people's burdens, when you're concerning yourself with the things that other
people are going.
You know how you do that?
When you're in church, sir, think about other people in this room that you know have something
that's a burden, and try to help them, and try to care about them, and how about this,
when you pray, are you praying more for your burdens or their burdens?
Is your prayer time a time of praying for others, or only praying for yourself?
And let me tell you what, it will change your attitude when you pray for other people.
It will change your mindset.
And oftentimes, even if you say, well, I have a lot of problems, well, when you start
praying for the other problems you know of other people, you start realizing my problems
don't even matter.
Their problems are way worse than mine.
Go to 1 John, chapter number 4.
Question is, can we simply gird ourselves with a towel, get our knees, and focus on
other people's problems than our own?
And I like this, that Jesus laid aside his garments.
That makes me think of just him laying aside his problems.
He's just like, I'll just take my problems and lay them aside real quick, and I'll just
start worrying about yours for a moment.
I'll just get on my knees, and I'll gird myself with a towel, and I'll start washing your
feet.
He didn't wash his own feet, even.
He doesn't have anything to do with him.
It was simply just loving other people, just caring about other people.
1 John, chapter 4, look at verse 7.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God.
And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
The only people that truly love, according to God's love, are the saved.
The saved are the ones who truly love.
Verse 8, he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.
Verse 9, in this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to
be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Just like Christ loved them unto the end, we too need to love others unto the end.
We need to love our fellow brother and sister in Christ to the end.
We need to love our church members to the end.
We need to love those whom we disciple unto the end.
And it's easier to deal with your problems when you're concerned with others.
Now I say this, fix the problems that you can.
I'm not saying to ignore, you know, if you're on fire, stop, drop, and roll, okay?
You know, first get the beam out of your eye before you're going to get the mote out of
your brother's eye.
Hey, I'm not saying ignore issues, I'm not saying ignore problems, but what I am saying
is certain things you can't change, you can't fix, you can't do anything about, and instead
of worrying about all those things, how about just worry about somebody else's problems
then?
Start worrying about the things you can change.
Start affecting things in this world.
Hey, take advantage of the time that you have, redeem the time, because the days are evil,
is what the Bible says, and we don't know how much time we have.
And I wouldn't want to waste time worrying.
You know, nothing good happens by worrying.
Nothing good happens by taking extra time.
You know, I'll give you a carnal example, go to John chapter 17, we'll give you a carnal
example, but when I played a lot of golf, and sometimes when you are on a golf course,
it gets like packed, or you get to a particular portion of the course where it's a difficult
hole, and so it slows down dramatically, where you have a lot of groups stacked up on a particular
tee box, and it'll take a lot of extra time.
And I'll just tell you, not just me, but everyone virtually, whenever you have to sit there
and just wait, you're kind of in a rhythm, you're playing holes, and you're going from
hole to hole to hole, but then all of a sudden you just get to the tee box, and you have
to sit there and just wait, and you have time to what?
Think about it, think about the shot, think about all the bad things that could be happening
on the, you know.
You end up, a lot of times, hitting a bad shot, because you get out of rhythm, you have
all that time to just wait and to think about it, and it's not very beneficial.
You know, it would be better if you could use that time, but you can't in golf, all
right?
So golf's fatally flawed in that area.
Because even a penalty, you know, it's such a problem, though, that if you're playing
too slow, they'll literally penalize you for playing too slow, they'll add strokes to your
score if you play too slow, because it just causes a problem for everybody else.
But having time to just sit there and think about things is not always very good.
It a lot of times causes more worry and anxiety, and another aspect of golf is when you step
up there and you're about to hit a shot, it's not always advantageous to think about all
the bad things you could do.
Really, you want to identify, like, where do I want to hit it, and then try to hit it
there.
You end up screwing up when you're trying not to hit it somewhere, when you're like,
why don't, don't want to hit it right, and you're like, and then it's just like, you
just hit it right or whatever.
And so there's a lot of mental aspects of golf, but it really happens in your life.
The things that you worry about and obsess over, sometimes they become self-fulfilling
prophecies because you just sit here and agonize over it.
If you can't control it, stop thinking about it.
Stop worrying about it, and Christ gives us lots of examples.
But number one, pray for your disciples, pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ, but
Jesus not only does this, he's not only concerned with his disciples, he's concerned with every
saved person.
Now, as we go through the story of John, we were in chapter 13, now we're in chapter 17,
so this is even closer.
We're getting even closer to the events that are about to impact him, yet he's still concerned
with not only his disciples, but even more people.
Look at verse nine.
I pray for them.
I pray not for the world.
So notice he's making a distinction between the saved and the unsaved.
But for them, which thou has given me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and
thine are mine, and I am glorified in them, and now I am no more in the world, but these
are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father.
Meet through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we
are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name.
Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition
that the scripture might be fulfilled, and now come I to thee.
And these things I speak in the world that they might have joy fulfilled in themselves.
My joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep
them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Now what I like about this is in verse 15, he's saying, I don't want you to take them,
you know, just rapture them or take them out of the world or anything like that.
No, I want you to just keep them from evil.
And think about this, Christ is literally about to experience the worst evil, and who
does he pray that would be delivered from evil?
The saved, other people.
Think about it.
Like, imagine if someone walked up and they're like, you're about to get run over by a car,
and you're like, hey, Lord, I pray that no one else gets run over by a car.
That's the example that he's leading.
He's saying, like, I hope that they are delivered from evil, knowing that he himself is going
to go to evil.
Most people would be so selfish, they'd just be only praying for themselves, like, I don't
want to go.
And we know he does at one point ask that he could be delivered from that evil, but
we see in this moment, you know, getting closer up to it, he's still praying for other people,
isn't he?
He's still loving them unto the end.
He's still loving every single saved person unto the end and wanting them to be kept from
evil.
Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth.
As thou has sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
And for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the
truth.
You know, I like this verse, too, because we see Jesus Christ, he wants to live a separated
life for other people.
You know, I think some people that get the wrong idea about being a fundamentalist and
they think, you know, oh, you just want to stop my joy, or you want to stop my fun, or
you want to tell me not to do stuff, you want me to tell me what to do, and it's like Jesus
Christ wasn't living a separated life for himself, he was living it for others.
He wanted to be the cleanest vessel and the best example he could for other people, getting
other people saved, being a great example, and leading the way, and encouraging other
people, and having a good testimony, being a good representative of God the Father, and
being his Son, and being pleasing to the Father.
He's like, hey, for their sakes I sanctify myself.
Do you ever think, man, you know, I shouldn't do that because it may hurt other people?
Or hey, maybe I should get into church for other people, or maybe I should go to soul
winning for other people, or hey, maybe I should clean up my life for other people.
You know, how about being healthy for your children?
You say, well, I don't care.
Well, your children care.
You know, no one's like, man, I wish my parents had died sooner, you know, at least the ones
that love their parents, okay?
People that love their parents, they're never wishing, man, I wish they had died sooner,
they wish they had died later.
They wanted them to last longer, and the reality is, the cleaner that we are, and the more
that we love the Lord and serving him, it's going to benefit other people.
Be clean for other people.
Be motivated by others.
Verse 20, neither pray I for these alone, it's not just the disciples, but for them
also which shall believe on me through their word.
So notice who he's also praying for, every single saved person.
Every single saved person Jesus Christ has literally prayed for while on this earth.
In the last moments of his life, he's still loving the saved.
He's still caring for the saved.
He loved them unto the end.
Go to Matthew chapter 9, go to Matthew chapter 9, and really this is just an example that
to me it almost seems impossible to accomplish.
It's really only the Son of God that can do these things, you know, that has this type
of strength and this character and this discipline, but we should still strive to have that same
character and discipline.
We should still strive to be perfect as the Son of God was perfect, and we should desire
to minister and love the saved people.
Look at Matthew chapter 9, and let me say this, he didn't just pray for people that
are saved.
He prayed for people that would be saved too, future saved people, and we should pray the
same.
Matthew 9 verse 35, and Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching their synagogues
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among
the people.
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted
and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his
harvest.
So notice the attitude of Jesus Christ is that you would pray for more saved people
to go out and do the work of the Lord, to go out and reach more people.
Now it's baffling to me how anybody who's saved would not have this attitude.
There's some people, they attack the idea of this camaraderie or this teamwork that
we're really involved in, and to me it must be that person's very prideful.
Either they're not saved or they're prideful, because at the end of the day it's not about
me or my church, it's about people going to heaven and being saved.
So if I truly cared about other people, I would want as many soul winners as could possibly
be out there.
I would want nothing to get left over, I want nothing to get lost.
I would want all of the harvest to be gathered, and we're supposed to literally pray for more
laborers.
We're supposed to literally pray for more soul winners.
I heard recently a bozo, a foolish preacher, get up and he said that he doesn't want any
more soul winners in his church, he wants Christians.
And I'm like, first of all, that's a weird distinguishment, okay?
And in fact, the only way to have a soul winner is for them to be saved, okay?
We don't believe this stupid Judas doctrine, okay?
We checked out of the door.
But to say that you want a Christian, and then it'll clarify, well I want Christians
with charity, but I don't want those soul winners.
Well let me say this, if you're a Christian and you have charity, it's because you're
a soul winner, okay?
There is not a soul winner that's saved that doesn't have some level of charity, okay?
Now I'll say this, you could be a soul winner and lack charity in some areas of your life,
but you can't be without charity because it's one of the most charitable things that you
can possibly do.
Now you could obviously preach the gospel with the wrong heart, and obviously the Bible
talks about people in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 having these wonderful gifts and everything
like that.
But if you're going out to get someone saved, sorry, that's a charitable act.
And to say that there's all these people out there preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ
without charity is just a bizarre attitude.
And let me say this, people that attack soul winning are bad people, period.
What a wicked person would attack soul winning and try to attack going out and preaching
the gospel.
Now how can you honestly say that you care about lost people if you want less soul winners?
I mean just, you know, you have this whole field of grapes ready to be picked and you
care so much about those grapes, I want less people to gather the grapes.
It's like you just must not care about the grapes.
Now if you really care about the grapes, you would want everyone to get gathered.
You would grab as many people, hey, come with me, let's get all this.
We don't want to waste anything.
We don't want to let anything go.
The reality is there's only this one life to gather as many grapes as you possibly can.
And the only thing that we get to take with us is the grapes.
And you say, man, I'm getting hungry.
It's a spiritual picture for souls.
Hey, the only thing that matters is gathering as many souls as we can before we leave this
joint.
And it's not about me getting them saved or you getting them saved, it's about them getting
saved.
Who cares?
I mean, what a wicked person would want anyone to go to hell for any reason?
To say you want less soul winners, to say you want more people to go to hell.
That sounds like the attitude of the devil.
What a wicked person.
But Jesus Christ, even in his last dying moments, you know, in the last moments of his life,
he's still loving other people and he's still praying for the saved and he's still caring
about the gospel getting out.
What kind of love does he have?
Go to Luke chapter 21, go to Luke chapter 21.
We should want more people on our team, not less.
And you know what?
If I have more soul winners and less people in my church, praise the Lord.
Hey, if we have 200 people at our church or whatever the number is and only half of them
go soul winning and I have the opportunity to pick between two things, keep 200 people
at my church or go to 105 soul winners, I'm going to 105 soul winners.
Why?
Because you showing up here is not going to be as great as another person going out there
and preaching the gospel and getting someone saved.
You know the person, you know why someone would be so desperate to have people show
up rather than having soul winners?
Is because there's no one in the room listening to the sermon.
So they're just so concerned with somebody actually showing up.
And the reason why they don't want a soul winner to show up is because when they hear
they're really garbage preaching, they're going to go somewhere else and go soul winning.
So of course you don't want soul winners.
You just want brain dead idiots to come and fill the pew just so you can feel like you're
important.
That's what you really want.
He's Josh Gander by the way, if you're wondering.
What an idiot.
He's like, how do you, why do you call this guy out?
Well he keeps showing himself to be wicked and you say, you're saying he's not saved.
I didn't say that, but even if he is, he's still wicked and why would anybody attack
soul winning?
I just, you know, all right, Luke 21.
Now let me keep on this train of thought.
Think about the saved, okay?
Because we've combined a couple of thoughts, having evil in your life and getting people
saved.
Well, there's going to be a point in time when Christians have some of the worst evil
ahead of them and befalling them.
Some of the worst burdens.
What are those?
Well, look at verse 14, settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what
you shall answer.
For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to
gain, say, nor resist.
And ye shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren and kinsfolks and friends and some
of you shall they cause to be put to death and you shall be hated of all men for my name's
sake.
Now this is some heavy stuff.
Go to Matthew 24, can you imagine your mom and dad calling Biden up to put you to death?
That would hurt, not just physically, I think it would hurt more emotionally than it would
the physical pain of knowing a loved one, of a friend, of having someone betray you,
of having someone that you knew and you loved and you ministered to.
But you know what?
Having all that evil befall you and knowing that it's coming, you could still love other
people.
Look at Matthew 24 verse 6, and ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.
See that ye be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not
yet.
You know what this verse does?
It helps you understand what I've been teaching you.
Hey, all this bad stuff is going to happen, you can't change it.
What did he say?
But all these things must come to pass.
We need to stop the new world order, fail.
We need to stop all the evil that's going to happen, fail.
Hey, it's going to happen.
Well, I'm so worried about it.
What did Christ say?
See that ye be not troubled.
Say, how can I do that Pastor Shelley?
Accept the fact that you can't change it.
That's the best way.
Verse 7, for nation shall rise against nation.
That's already happening.
And kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes
and divers places.
Now what does divers mean?
It means several or diverse, meaning all over.
There's famines all over.
There's pestilences over.
There's earthquakes everywhere.
Verse 8, all these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated
of all nations for my name's sake.
I don't feel like our five star Google review is going to stay that way.
It's not already, all right?
It's like three the best.
Verse 10, and then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate
one another.
You know, I used to think like, well, we'll just flee to the nation where they're not
persecuting you.
But verse 9 doesn't give you much hope.
And you should be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
You're an equal opportunity option for hate against the truth.
Verse 11, and many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations
and then shall the end come.
So you know the Bible's saying, hey, even though the most evil, horrible things are
going to happen to the whole world, and specifically Christians are going to get the brute force
of a lot of this affliction, a lot of this persecution, some people, some people are
going to love others unto the end.
Some people are going to love to save unto the end.
Some people are going to go out and preach the gospel to the whole world unto the end.
And you say, why, Pastor Shelley?
Because they realize they can't affect any of those things.
And in fact, the ones that have it, they're not even worried about the evil that's going
to happen.
They're the ones that usually get saved.
All the ones that are biting their nails and worrying about it are probably the ones that
are not going to make it.
So what use does it have to worry and fear and cower and be a eurygia and go hide in
Egypt, no, just be Jeremiah and preach right to their face?
That's the best policy.
The guy that goes and runs and hides and whatever usually ends up getting the worst punishment.
Go to Matthew chapter six, go to Matthew chapter number six.
Go soul winning, hey, on your way out, just grab as many grapes as you can, why not?
Matthew chapter six, verse 31, therefore, take no thought saying, what shall we eat
or what shall we drink or with all shall we be clothed?
Now isn't that like your primary questions when you think about what I just read?
Like you're thinking like, if everybody's hunting me down and I can't buy your cell,
what are we going to eat?
What are we going to drink?
What are we going to wear?
You know, but what did Christ say?
Take no thought.
For after all these things, the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father, know that you have
need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and
all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the
things of itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Hey, I guarantee Christ had this on his mind.
Hey, he's not taking thought of tomorrow.
No, he's getting on his knees and he's washing his disciples feet.
No, he's getting down on his knees and he's praying to his heavenly father.
He's praying for the saved.
He's praying for other people.
He loved them unto the end.
And you know what, when you give God first in your life, he takes care of everything
else.
Some people, every area of their life is ahead of God.
God is if it fits, if it's convenient, if it works out.
You know, the best thing to do is to decide to just put Christ first and then let everything
else fall in line.
And I'm preaching to the choir on Wednesday night.
Go to John chapter 19.
Point number three is this, not only did he care for his disciples, not only care for
all saved, he also was concerned for his physical family.
Look at John 19 verse 25.
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife
of Cleophas, everybody's name Mary, and Mary Magdalene.
You would think they were Catholic, but verse 26, when Jesus therefore saw his mother and
the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, woman, behold thy son.
Then saith he to the disciple, behold thy mother.
And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own own.
This is incredible.
In his last moments, he's hanging on the cross.
He's dying.
He still is caring more about his mother's life than his own.
He's still loving her unto the end.
Instead of worrying about his problems, he's worried about her problems and that she is
going to be taken care of.
A lot of people, especially when they're grown, it's a burden for me to worry about my parents'
problems.
They're supposed to worry about me.
Well, Christ is worrying about his mother.
Christ said to honor thy father and thy mother.
When he gave an example in Matthew 15, I won't have you turn there, but his example is an
adult person that was supposed to be taking care of their parents and honoring their parents.
First Timothy chapter number five teaches you to honor widows that are widows in deed
and to take care of your family and to love them and to treat them with respect.
You know when you stop loving and respecting your parents?
Remember, you love them unto the end.
You honor them unto the end.
Go to Luke chapter 23, go to Luke chapter 23.
A lot of people, especially in our church, may have a strained relationship with a family
member even because of this church.
They may not like the church.
They may not even want to come into the church.
Jesus' mom was standing without me.
She was like, I know he's in there, but I want him to come out and talk with me.
And he's like, no, I'm going to church.
No, I'm there with my brothers and my sisters too.
I'm with my spiritual mother and my spiritual brethren too.
And look, his family was saved.
It wasn't that they weren't saved, but a lot of them didn't have the same zeal that he
did when he was alive.
His brethren didn't even really believe in him.
And we should elevate spiritual relationships over physical relationships.
But even our physical relationships, we should not forsake.
We should not condemn.
We should not eradicate.
We should not just abandon just because.
We should love them unto the end too.
And you should even love them even if they were to betray you, even if they were to do
something wrong, even if they were to harm you, you should still love them, should still
pray for them.
You should still do good unto them.
When we have Mother's Day coming up, call your mother.
Send her flowers.
I wish I could do that to my mom.
Some of you have that opportunity.
I don't even have that opportunity.
My mom never even got to see any of my grandchildren, and it sucks.
And you never know how long you're going to have your parents.
Some people are like, ah, it's such a burden to see my parents or to talk to them or whatever.
It's like, well, at least you get to.
I don't even get to.
And there's other people in the room that don't get to.
And you never know when you're going to lose that relationship, why don't you love them
unto the end?
Because you know what?
If you can't love your parents unto the end, why would you expect your children to love
you unto the end when they see the example that you're setting before them?
You should love your children or you should love your parents unto the end teaching your
children to love you unto the end.
You know what?
You're going to reap what you sow.
God is not mocked.
Luke 23, look at verse 34.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and they parted
as raiment and cast lots.
Not only did Jesus pray for the saved and love the saved unto the end, not only did
he love his disciples, not only did he love his physical family, he loved the unsaved
too.
For God so loved the world.
He's literally being nailed to the cross by the unsaved, by the world.
And he's telling, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
I think that sometimes, and look, I believe the reprobate doctrine just as much as you
guys, maybe more in some cases.
But I think sometimes we jump to quickly because someone may not love the Lord, we think that
they're just automatically a reprobate, or they may say something mean to you out so
away.
Well, that guy's definitely a reprobate because he was mean.
Look, these people literally crucified Jesus, okay?
And he still loved them.
And you say, well, it was in vain.
No, it wasn't.
Let me tell you somebody that was not in vain for.
Let me tell you something that God had mercy on that's in this group.
How about the apostle Paul?
Wasn't the apostle Paul alive?
Wasn't he in that group that Jesus Christ is saying, Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do?
Wasn't Paul in that group when Stephen said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge?
And he was consenting unto his death.
I guarantee, and this is a sad reality, but I guarantee if you go soul winning and someone,
you knock on the door and they say, I hope you die, you'd be like, that guy's a reprobate.
Is he?
Because Saul was hoping that Stephen would die.
Can you pray for the unsaved?
Do you ever pray for the unsaved?
Do you ever pray for people to get saved?
You know, he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come
again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
You say, well, I go soul winning a lot, but I never get anybody saved.
Well, why don't you start praying for them before you go out?
Go to 2 Timothy chapter 4, go to 2 Timothy chapter 4.
He loved them unto the end.
He died on the cross for the world, of course he did.
Of course he loved the world unto the end.
The ultimate picture of love.
Look, the wicked don't even love themselves.
Christ loves everyone.
He bare the sins of the whole world.
He died for every man.
The Bible says he tasted death for every man.
He loved everyone.
The ultimate picture of love.
2 Timothy chapter 4, verse number 16.
At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.
I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
That's a cool verse.
So Christ says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Then says, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
And then we see another person saying what?
I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
Here's my question.
Do you ever pray that?
Do you ever think that?
Do you love them unto the end?
Verse 17, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the
preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered
out of the mouth of the lion.
Why did he want to be delivered?
Why did he want to be strengthened?
Why did he know that it would happen so that people could hear the gospel?
He loved the unsaved.
That was the reason.
Why is he praying for the unsaved?
Go to 1 Timothy chapter number 2, go to 1 Timothy chapter number 2.
The Bible says for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him, and who's in that whosoever, Jeffrey Dahmer was in that whosoever.
Judas was in that list, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Xi Ping,
whatever Kim Jong-un, name them all.
It's true.
Whosoever.
He loved everyone.
Now obviously some people have already decided they're not going to accept that and they're
not going to ever believe in him, but he really did love that person.
Every single one.
He loved them under the end.
1 Timothy chapter 2, look at verse 1.
I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks
be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who have all men to be
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth, for there is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified
in due time.
Hey, if Christ died on the cross for every single person, what was the point?
To be testified in due time.
For us to go out and to preach the gospel to testify of his love.
We go out and we preach the love of God.
When we go out and we preach the gospel, we're preaching that love that he had on the cross
for every single person when he died, when he took his last breath, when he went to hell,
when he rose again.
Go into Philippians chapter 1, I'll conclude.
He loved them under the end.
He loved his disciples.
He loved the saved.
He loved his family.
He loved the unsaved.
And I think as we live our lives and as we see potential horrible atrocities, we see
evil, we see the doom of America, we see our economy woes and horrible things.
And maybe we'll be spared a lot of those things, I don't know.
But there could be a lot of evil, there could be a lot of bad, there could be a lot of woe.
I think a lot of people, all they're concerned with is this, I just want to live the rest
of my life and be happy, Hezekiah attitude.
As long as there's peace and truth in my days.
They're just so concerned, well, there's some milestone in their life that they want to
get to.
I just want to get married or I just want to have another child or I want to have a
child or I want to see my grandchildren or I want to make it to this age or I want to
make it to this amount of money or I want to make it to get to this next level financially,
my house or start this business or I want to sell something or I want to win something
or just personal ambition and personal goals.
When they think about their life, they think about it being devastating if they don't reach
that or they're worried about coming short in their life or not fulfilling all the things
that they have.
But this is really the only thing that we should worry ourselves with.
Philippians chapter 1, look at verse 23.
For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to part and be with Christ, which is
far better.
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
You know, the apostle Paul says, I'd rather just go to heaven.
And if we realized, we would honestly pick that too.
Let me just tell you, heaven's better, okay?
It's just infinitely better.
It's so much better you can't even realize it.
He's saying, I have a desire to leave.
I'm not worried about my personal ambitions and my goals.
But he says, the only reason I'm here is for you, is for other people.
But here, let me ask you this.
Is that the reason why you feel like you're here?
Or is it for your personal ambition again?
Do you love yourself unto the end?
Or will you love others unto the end?
Christ, he loved them unto the end.
Close in prayer.
Thank you, Father, so much for your word.
Thank you for your example that you gave us through your son of his love and of his sacrifice.
I pray that you would stir men's hearts today to think about other people, that we could
love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, that we could love the saved and the potential
saved, that we could love our family, and that we could just love every unsaved person
in the fact that we want them to be saved.
We want them to accept Christ, and that our goal and our purpose and our mission here
is Christ.
It's not ourselves.
And that if we would just lay down our lives and pick up your cross, if we go out and preach
the gospel, we'd find purpose.
And with purpose, we'd find happiness, we'd find joy.
And as we go through evil and dark times, that we have that joy that comes through salvation
of others and not through the saving of our personal ambitions.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.