All right, welcome everybody to Sherr Foundation Baptist Church Seattle, you can go ahead and
open up your hymnals and turn to page 43, let's see our first hymn this evening, number
43 in your hymnals please, we'll sing Marching to Zion.
On the first.
Come we that love the Lord, and let our joys be known.
Join in a song with speed of thought, join in a song with speed of thought.
And thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne.
We're marching to Zion, to the beautiful Zion.
We're marching to Zion, to the beautiful city of God.
Let those we reach to sing, who never knew are gone.
The children of the heaven begin, the children of the heaven begin.
See, their joys are on their street, their joys are gone.
We're marching to Zion, to the beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching our way to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
The hymn of Zion in the thousand sacred streets.
Before we reach the heaven begin, before we reach the heaven begin,
along the golden streets, along the golden streets.
We're marching to Zion, our beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching our way to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
We'll have our sons around in every tear we try.
We're marching through the emerald's crown, we're marching through the emerald's crown.
To their world, world on high, to their world, world on high.
We're marching to Zion, the beautiful, beautiful Zion.
Thank you very much for bringing us all together to worship.
Thank you very much for bringing us up to a pitch for us and thank you for your blessing.
In the name of Jesus, amen.
Amen.
Let's go to turn over to 32.
Let's play number 32.
We'll sing He Lives on the High.
Number 32.
Number 32 on the verse.
Christ the Savior came from heaven's glory
to redeem the lost from sin and shame
on his brow he bore the forefront glory
and upon the gatherings of blind men
He lives on high, He lives on high
triumphant, overstated, all the same
He lives on high, He lives on high
some day he's coming again
He arose from death in all his sorrow
to dwell in that land of joy and love
He is coming back someplace far from
and will take all his children home above
He lives on high, He lives on high
triumphant, overstated, all the same
He lives on high, He lives on high
some day he's coming again
where his soul to Jesus come confessing
bring gas and run sailing off with glee
look to Jesus and receive a blessing
there is life, there is joy and victory
He lives on high, He lives on high
triumphant, overstated, all the same
He lives on high, He lives on high
some day he's coming again
Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's go ahead and look at our bulletins
as we go through our announcements. Does anyone need a bulletin? I think we still have some left over.
I think everyone has one that needs one or wants one. We'll take a look at the front cover of our bulletin
and go over the verse of the week, which is Psalm 98 2. The Lord hath made known His salvation
His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the heathen.
That's Psalm 98 verse 2. On the inside of our bulletins
on the right hand side at the very top, you see our church schedule, our service times
on Sunday mornings and our morning service is at 11 a.m. and our Sunday evening service
is at 4 p.m. and we are currently in the 6 30 p.m. Wednesday
service. Thank you all for being here this evening. Also so many times you're listed here as well.
On Sundays we have soul winning at 1 30 p.m. On Wednesdays we have soul winning today at
5 p.m. and on Saturdays we have soul winning at 11 a.m. and while we didn't have
any salvations out this afternoon, we did have one, what was it, yesterday from our
missionary in Ethiopia. I say that very lightly, but no, but
Miss Jackie got a salvation so we're now sitting at 147 so praise God
for sending souls to soul winners. I love it. It's fantastic.
So 147 for the year. Keep praying for her over there and just for our soul
winning efforts here as well. Take a look at the preaching schedule. We have Pastor Thompson up here
this evening so praise God for being able to come up here and preach for us and fellowship with us.
Still pizza after the service? Okay, so Little Caesars it up.
There we go, hey, tradition, right? Anyway, so
enough of that, enough of that. All right, so we take a look at the upcoming events.
September 13th through the 15th is Sure Foundation Baptist Church's North
sixth year anniversary weekend. October 6th through the 7th
is the family and friends weekend in Vancouver. That Saturday at 11 a.m. is the annual
pumpkin patch and Pastor Roger Jimenez will be preaching that Sunday evening on that weekend.
November 6th through the 10th is the Faithful Word Baptist Church Permissions Conference put on by Pastor Steven
Anderson over at Faithful Baptist Church. And December 15th, Dr. Phil Stringer will be preaching
at the Vancouver location for both services and there's sure to be at least one question and answer.
That's something you can go to it. You should go to that to strengthen your faith
in the preservation and the power of the King James Bible. With that said, let's take a look at
the rules for the building. Please get the bathroom lights off, the doors open and the fans going
as a courtesy for the next host going in. Please no running in the building. We have a large trash can in the back
to throw away stuff that we're not going to take with us to keep our area clean.
Please silence your cell phones. We do have them on the baby room around the corner past the bathrooms
that you can that you can utilize as a place of training and take care of parent stuff.
And of course we are family or integrated. We love having children in the
service, but if they are getting a little bit too fussy, you can take them out and they're
able to come back in, bring them back in so we can hear the preaching of God's word
outside of that. I think we're done with the announcements. We'll sing one more song and we will receive the offering.
So if you would please turn to number 41. We'll sing Sweet by and by. Number 41 please.
Number 41 on the furs.
There's a land that is fairer than day
And by faith we can see it afar
For our Father waits over the way
To prepare us a dwelling place there
In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore
In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore
We shall sing on that beautiful shore
The melodious songs of the past
And our spirit shall sorrow no more
Not a sigh for the blessing of rest
In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore
In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore
To our bountiful Father above
We will offer a tribute of praise
For the glorious gift of His love
And the blessings that follow our days
In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore
In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore
In the sweet by and by
Amen.
Well, it's a custom in this church to read the whole chapter of the Bible.
Turn in the Bible to John chapter 13.
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 supper being ended
The devil having now put into 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 riseeth from supper
And laid aside His garments and took a towel and girded Himself
After that He poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet
And to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded
Then cometh He to Simon Peter
And Peter saith unto Him
Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him
What I do, Thou knowest not now, but Thou shalt know hereafter
Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet
Jesus answered Him
If I wash Thee not, Thou hast no part with me
Simon Peter saith unto Him
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head
Jesus saith unto Him, He that is washed needeth not save
To wash his feet, but is clean every whit
And ye are clean, but not all
For He knew who should betray Him
Therefore He said, Ye are not all clean
So after He had washed their feet
And had taken His garments and was set down again
He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
Ye call me Master and Lord
And ye say well, for so I am
If I then your Lord and Master have washed their feet
Ye also ought to wash one another's feet
I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you
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
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them
I ask not of you all
I know of whom I have chosen, but
That the scripture may be fulfilled
That he eateth bread with me
And lifted up his heel against me
Now I tell you before it come
That when it is come to pass
Ye may believe that I am he
Verily, verily, I say unto you
He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me
And he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me
When Jesus had thus said
He was troubled in spirit and testified and said
Verily, verily, I say unto you
That one of you shall betray me
Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake
Now there were leaning on Jesus bosom one of the disciples whom Jesus loved
Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him
That he should ask who it should be of whom he spake
He then lying of Jesus
Jesus' breast
saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sup when I have dipped it
And when he had dipped the sup he gave it to Judas Iscariot the son of Simon
And after the sup Satan entered into him
Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly
Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him
For some of them thought because Judas had the bag
That Jesus had said unto him, By those things that we have need of against the feast
Or that he should give something to the poor
He then having received the sup went immediately out and it was night
Therefore when he was gone out Jesus said, Now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him
If God be glorified in him God shall also glorify him in himself
And shall straightway glorify him
Little children ye yet a little while for I am with you, ye shall seek me
And as I said unto the Jew, Whether I go ye cannot come
So now I say unto you a new commandment I give unto you
That ye love one another and I have loved you
That ye also love one another, by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples
If ye have loved one another
Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whether thou goest thou
Jesus answered him, Whether I go thou cannotst not follow me now
But thou shalt follow me afterwards
Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now
I will lay down my life for thy sake
Jesus answered him, Will thou lay down thy life for my sake
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow until thou denies me thrice
Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to worship in your house, Lord.
I pray that you would fill Pastor Thompson with the spirit and help him to preach hard
and help us to have ears from here and also understand the Lord in the name of my subtraction.
The Lord love you and Jesus let me pray. Amen.
Alright, I figured I'd ditch that coat.
I just decided when it's summertime, I might as well just get rid of the jacket.
I sweat enough without it.
So anyway, it's good to see you guys this Wednesday evening.
I appreciate you all coming out tonight.
I heard there's people sick and I kind of feel like I have the start of the sniffles.
It's kind of been going around a little bit of a summer cold.
So anyway, I'm here and I'm ready to preach the word of God.
So let's get right into it.
Last week, remember, Jesus had gone back to Bethany
and we saw the plot to not only kill Jesus, but we saw the plot to kill Lazarus also.
And me and brother Tony just briefly were talking about it
and he was thinking about it on the way home about how, you know,
Lazarus' only crime was to be resurrected.
And yeah, what a weird reason to murder somebody.
But really it's because the evidence of the fact that Jesus did that miracle
was sitting before everybody and looking everybody in the eyes.
And people were going to see him and people were getting saved
because it's like, you know, nowadays people find a piece of macaroni
that looks like the Virgin Mary or something.
They all come to see it or something.
And they think that's such a great miracle or something.
But what a weird thing to come and see.
But when you actually see someone that you know and everybody knows was dead
and he's sitting there eating with you
and the man that resurrected him is sitting there eating with him,
that's a pretty big deal.
So a lot of people got saved because of that miracle
and it's a great story in the Bible about Lazarus.
Of course, we also learned that last week, though,
it's six days countdown to the time of where Jesus is crucified.
Now we've actually jumped where we're the night before.
So we're at the night before.
We're at the night of the Lord's Supper.
So the Lord's Supper takes place the night before Jesus Christ is crucified.
So he's crucified actually the next morning after these events take place.
So it's really interesting because in the book of John,
you don't have the Matthew 24, the Luke 21, the Mark 13,
where it's teaching about the temp, you know, one stone left upon another,
the great teaching of the end times.
But it's because John actually writes the book of Revelation.
So he's like, well, I got this other book, so we'll leave that chapter out.
But he specifically teaches on just some really great doctrine that Jesus teaches
that's not really included in some of the other gospels.
So there's a lot of just isolated teachings that are in these next chapters
that are not found specifically in the other gospels.
And we have a really great lesson here.
And really if I was to title this sermon, it would be on servant leadership.
And I actually first heard of the concept of servant leadership.
I mean, obviously Jesus is the one that taught servant leadership in the Bible.
But actually when I worked at Walmart, they taught the concept of servant leadership.
That's what they taught as a leadership method at Walmart.
I don't think that they do that anymore,
but that's what Sam Walton actually based his management program on.
Now, most of the managers I knew didn't really follow that guideline.
But I remember I've gotten where I've said that in interviews
and not realized that that probably didn't get me the job
because they probably realized what I'm saying.
I don't care. I mean, I would still stand by that and say,
I still believe that that's the best.
If you're going to be a leader at your job or a supervisor or some kind of lead position,
that you need to be in there working with your people
and they need to be able to see that you can do what you're expecting them to do.
And this is the lesson that we see in the Bible tonight.
And Jesus did this constantly with his disciples.
He always outworked them. He always outprayed them.
He got it before them.
He's the example for us in the Scriptures as the perfect Christian.
He's the perfect preacher.
I mess up my preaching and I sometimes have to backtrack what I say.
I feel like an idiot for that sometimes.
If you preach three, four times a week, you're going to make mistakes.
But do you think Jesus ever made a mistake when he was preaching?
He never made a mistake because he was perfect, right?
It's a hard thing to live up to.
But it's an example for us to follow.
So we're six days out last week. Now we're here the night before.
And so everything that's being taught up to chapter 18, 19
is encapsulated in these next hours.
So look at verse number one.
And my first point is Jesus gives the example of servant leadership.
So look at verse number one. The Bible says,
Now before the feast of the Passover.
So is this the feast of the Passover?
No, it's 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.
I really love that saying there because it's so true.
It's a term that's obvious because everything that he does just shows this.
There's a difference between just saying you love somebody
and showing you love people.
And Jesus not only said it, but he showed it.
And he taught for others to love each other also, other Christians.
So he even makes arrangements when he's on the cross.
He's dying. He's being tortured to death.
And he's making arrangements for his mother to go live with John.
I mean, he's making plans. He's on the cross dying.
Most people are just going to be wailing and whining and crying,
of course, and rightly so.
I mean, sure, it was agonizing.
But he prays for people that don't realize what they're doing,
that they're crucifying the Son of God.
He leads a man that's dying next to him to heaven
and says, you'll be with me in paradise.
He's soul winning while he's on the cross, literally.
And a servant leader puts the needs of others before the needs of himself.
And that really is what Jesus always was doing.
He wouldn't even eat. He would just work through his meals.
I mean, he has so many qualities to look up to.
And there are things, a lot of us, we miss the mark
when it comes to being a great leader or a great follower.
But we can always strive to be that great follower.
And if you want to be a great leader,
you have to first learn to be a great follower
because nobody just automatically becomes a great leader.
You have to learn to follow first.
Jesus followed his parents.
He had to learn to follow.
Jesus had to follow his father, what his father asked him to do.
And what was he doing? Why was he doing all this?
Because he was fulfilling the will of his father.
He didn't want to go to the cross.
We'll see that when he prays that that cup be taken away from him.
Let's keep your place here and flip over to Philippians 2 verse 3.
See, a servant leadership puts other people before themselves.
And this is one of the great qualities of Jesus,
one of the greatest qualities of Jesus.
It says in Philippians 2 verse 3,
a very powerful portion of scripture here, it says,
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.
You know, the reason why we do great deeds and acts
and go soloing and do the things that we do,
it's not for strife.
And it shouldn't be to just get into arguments with people.
And it shouldn't be for our own glory.
But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.
I mean, that's the Christian way.
To esteem other better than themselves.
You look at people and you don't go,
I'm better than them.
You say, they're better than me.
You esteem them better.
Look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of, what's it say?
Others.
It's not talking about not minding your own business.
It's talking about helping other people.
Letting, you know, thinking about other people besides yourself.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation.
He could have been born anywhere he wanted to,
in any castle he wanted to,
with as much money as he wanted to.
But instead, what did he do?
He was born of no reputation.
Nobody even knew who he was.
And took upon himself the form of a servant,
of a lowly person that just serves people,
and was made in the likeness of men.
He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He is God.
And yet, he took on himself one of his own creations,
which is mankind.
And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name.
So why is he the ultimate leader?
Because he was the ultimate servant leader.
That's why.
A leader by example.
And it says that at the name of Jesus,
every knee should bow,
of things in heaven, and things in earth,
and things under the earth,
that every tongue should confess that Jesus,
and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Whether people like it or not,
he is Lord.
Whether the atheists like it or not,
he is Lord.
And one day they're going to say that he is Lord,
whether they like it or not.
So it's just like, why not just get saved?
Because you're going to call him Lord anyway.
I mean, you're going to do it kicking and screaming,
or you're going to do it bowing in praise.
Whichever way you do it,
why not do it and be saved and live forever,
instead of die forever?
So Jesus was the ultimate leader
because he was the ultimate servant leader.
Now let's go back to our text in John 13, verse 2.
It says, the supper being ended.
So this is the last supper.
This is the meal that they're...
And I don't have time to cross-reference all this right now,
and I don't really want to take the time
to focus on that right now,
but of course you can compare all the gospels.
The synoptic gospels are different
than the timetable of John.
John keeps time like we keep time.
And so the times that they keep
in the synoptic gospels are different.
And so when it says times and things like that,
it's going to be different.
So just something to think about
when we get further into it.
And I'll explain that maybe as the time comes
a little bit later on.
But anyway, let's see.
So the supper being ended.
So yeah, there's a lot of controversy.
That's a really difficult study to study through,
trying to pinpoint all the times
that all this stuff happened.
But it's obvious that they're eating supper.
What time is supper normally served at your house?
I mean, it's usually in the evening, right?
So they're eating.
Jesus is saying that He wants to eat.
He desires to eat the Passover with them,
but He's going to be the Passover the next day.
So He can't really eat the Passover with them, can He?
So this is kind of like Him
eating it with them beforehand, right?
If He's literally fulfilling it,
how can He eat the Passover with them
at their appointed time?
He can't.
And He's going to be in the grave
for three days and three nights after that.
So this isn't the actual Passover time
because He's being killed and hung on a cross at that time
and being wrapped up and put in the grave, right?
Anyway, so it says,
after the supper being ended,
the devil, having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son, to betray him.
So the devil put it in Judas' heart.
I've got to tell you that unsaved people
can have things put in their heart
to fulfill Satan's will.
The Bible talks about when we get people saved,
we're waking them up out of the traps of the devil, basically,
and that he can take people captive at his will.
Of course, I believe that God still has to allow
a full-on possession of somebody,
and I think that those people have to be weakened
to a certain extent.
I don't think He can just jump around
and possess anybody He wants.
Maybe He can, but I really just don't.
Then everybody would be possessed, pretty much.
So I think there are certain people that are possessed,
but who do you see that are people
that are possessed in most cases?
People that are on drugs and alcohol,
people that are spiritually into some weird stuff.
They played with Ouija boards,
and they're messing with the occult,
and they break down your defenses,
and then at that point they're weakened to those things.
So there's probably some sort of defense system that we have,
but then when God also doesn't allow them
to just possess anybody, because if that was the case,
I mean, there's millions of devils.
There's hundreds of millions of devils.
So obviously they couldn't possess everybody at the same time,
but they could possess a lot of people,
a lot of powerful people, and maybe they do.
Maybe they have possessed a certain amount of people.
As you probably know, I'm just speculating here.
This is my opinion, but I just don't think
that they can possess anybody they want whenever they want.
I mean, for sure they can't possess people that are saved.
So anyway, this is the devil putting it in Judas' heart,
and Judas is not just on stage. Judas is a reprobate.
So when it comes to someone that's a reprobate,
those people I do believe he can control as well.
So he put it in his heart and it says,
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things
into his hands and he was come from God and went to God,
he riseth up from supper and laid aside his garments
and took a towel and girded himself.
So he takes a towel, he takes all his main outerwear off,
takes a towel, ties it around himself like a belt, right?
Because that's what girding is.
After that, he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples' feet
and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Now, the worst thing I could think of having to do
is a bunch of guys that are walking around in sandals all day
and then to just 12 guys in a row,
just get down on my hands and knees
and wipe their nasty, cracked, corn-filled,
gross-looking, troll, hairy feet, right?
I mean, that does take humility.
I mean, some churches, they think that this is something
that we're missing out, like there's the Lord's Supper,
there's baptism and then there's foot washing
and they practice these things.
But this is something that's in their culture
because they live in a dry, dusty area.
Most people are probably wearing sandals.
They're not wearing socks with sandals.
That's not cool in any part of the world that you live in.
It's only allowed up here at certain times of the year.
You get kind of a pass here.
You get a burrow pass or whatever.
But Jesus is doing something here and He's their leader.
He's their master. He's their Lord.
So here is the ultimate picture of servant leadership
where He's not only just showing them how to work.
Now He's actually taking care of them
and He's washing their feet.
This is something that a servant would do.
This is something that probably you would say a slave would do.
But obviously we're not slaves. We're servants.
It is different.
But Jesus took upon Himself the form of a servant.
I mean, how much more low can you go
where you're washing someone's feet?
You're washing the feet of people that in reality are lesser than you
when it comes to status as far as...
He's God. He's God manifest in the flesh.
I mean, I can kind of understand where Peter here is like
not wanting him to do it.
I do understand where he's coming from.
And this is where he says,
Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him,
Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
And in most religions, the God of that religion
is only served and feared and given sacrifice to.
He doesn't serve the people that worship Him.
But the God that we serve, He serves us also.
I mean, He sacrificed His only begotten Son
so that we could all be saved even though we are total screw-ups.
Usually, I mean, like if God was a wicked and evil God or being,
He would just like snap His fingers and everybody disappear
and He'd be like, oh, let's start over again.
But He didn't do that.
Most bosses in this world direct and leave labor to their workers, don't they?
That's the way of the world.
Most bosses, you know, you'll get those...
I don't know, whatever kind of field of work you're in.
I've been kind of in blue-collar and white-collar type jobs.
But a lot of times, you'll get the new manager that comes in
and he just got out of college
and he wants to impose his management style upon you
and he wants to change everything about you.
He's the new superstar that's going to come
and fix everything that doesn't really need to be fixed,
but he just thinks it does or she just thinks it does.
And their style is to just switch everything up
and get everybody upset and just shake everything up.
But usually, they don't get in and get their hands dirty
and actually do the work.
They just look at the numbers, look at the books,
who's messing up here, who's messing up there.
But that's not what Jesus did.
He's just like, hey, come follow me
and I'll make you to become fishers of men.
He showed them how to do it.
A lot of people will say, yeah, so many doesn't work.
If you go door to door, it doesn't work.
Yeah, it doesn't work for you because you don't do it.
That's why it doesn't work for you.
Actually, there was a guy that spoke at a camp that we had.
It was like a team camp that we went to.
It was the last one I went to.
It wasn't the last one, but it was the second to the last one I went to.
But I was asking the pastor, he was the featured speaker there,
and he was up in Vancouver, Canada.
And I was like, do you guys do door to door soloing up there?
He's like, no, that doesn't work up there.
He's like, people are just really standoffish
and it's considered rude to knock on people's doors and stuff like that.
People are like that anywhere now, pretty much.
It's like some super receptive island nation or some really ghetto area.
Most places are unreceptive to the gospel in the door to door situation,
but that's just how Jesus said to do it.
When people are still going to get saved, even in the richest places,
we get really surprised sometimes.
A couple of weeks ago, we were in this really rich area,
and one guy that was with us had two salvations,
just low-hanging fruit in a neighborhood that you would think,
we're not getting anybody this week.
But all of a sudden, it just happens.
But if you never go, it's never going to happen.
But these types of people, they say that this stuff doesn't work
because they never try it.
They don't know how to do it because nobody ever taught them.
So when it comes to them pastoring,
then they already have it in their mind,
well, my pastor told me it doesn't work,
so I'm going to tell them it doesn't work.
That's why these churches are going bad
because they just don't believe in the way that Jesus said to do things,
the way that Paul said to do things.
So Jesus gives this example.
Peter is here. He's like,
Does thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him,
What I do, thou knowest not, but thou shalt know hereafter.
Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.
Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
Now, this is a great picture of salvation, though,
because if you won't allow Jesus to be the one that washes you clean,
instead of you cleaning up yourself,
you'll die and go to hell.
You'll die and go to hell.
And this is what a lot of people believe,
that I have to have my part in washing myself up, too.
I have to repent of my sins.
You know, it's me and Jesus do it together.
He saves me and I wash myself at the same time or something.
It's two sides of the same coin.
He washes me and I have to scrub a dub-dub, too,
at the same time, right?
It's two sides of the same coin that happens at the exact same time.
You repent of all your sins and then He saves you.
It's ridiculous.
It's not in the Bible.
It's like the shelf that you can set your salvation back on.
That's not there either.
You're not going to find that in the Bible.
You're not going to find the two-sided coin of repentance in the Bible.
This is a great picture, though, here of salvation,
even though this isn't what's being discussed,
but it is a picture of it.
And Simon Peter saith unto him,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
He's like, get the whole thing, then.
If you need to wash me, well, just wash everything,
because I've got a lot of problems.
So Peter does put his foot in his mouth here.
Classic Peter.
He does this a lot, but he also says a lot of great things, too.
And this is one of those times
where he immediately says the right thing right afterwards.
It's like the about-face is like,
well, hey, okay, yeah, okay, let's do this.
So he gets it right right away,
and he's like, I've got more problems than just dirty feet.
I need a shampoo.
I need my eyebrows trimmed.
I need a lot of stuff here.
But wash everything.
Just wash the whole thing, Lord.
And really, that's what we need.
We need the Lord to wash us.
And to get saved, it's the Lord that does the washing.
It's the Lord that cleans us up.
And once He cleans us up, we're clean forever.
And so this is a symbolic thing of salvation,
is that He has to be the one that does it for us.
And so it's not just a great picture of leadership and humility, which it is,
but it's also that He is the one that cleans us.
And He's like, if you don't let Me clean you,
then you have no part with Me.
And it's like anybody else out there,
any other teaching out there that's not just faith alone in Jesus Christ,
then they have no part with Him
because they try to grab the towel with them
or they try to grab the bowl and wash themselves,
and they're not going to get clean.
And you know what? They have no part with Him.
That's the truth of the matter.
Let's move on to verse 10 here.
It says, Jesus saith unto him,
He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet,
but is clean every wit.
So once Jesus saves us, it says,
And ye are clean, but not all,
for he knew who should betray him.
Therefore he said he, ye are not all clean.
So He knew who the traitor was.
It's kind of a suspense in this up,
but we already know it's Judas because it already told us
at the beginning of the story here.
He's kind of been dropping these little hints through the whole book.
Not hints, he's just been telling us straight up
that Judas is the devil. He never believed.
And this is another thing.
People that say that Judas got people saved
or people that say that Judas was saved and lost his salvation,
they have no clue what they're talking about.
He was never saved. He never believed.
He didn't just, he appeared to be saved,
and then he went into perdition.
And basically what perdition is, is that
that person appears to be saved,
and then they just are completely go the opposite direction.
They're total reprobates, totally wicked.
So when we, you know, people will say,
well, I, you know, this is why people think you can lose your salvation, though,
because they see someone that claims that they're saved,
and then they see that person go off and become a God-heating atheist,
and they're like, well, see, that person wants their salvation,
and their church teaches that,
and it's like, well, see, it must be true. People can lose their salvation.
But see, do you see how bad that teaching is, though?
How bad that preaching is, though?
Instead of just saying, no, that person was never saved to begin with,
like the Bible says,
and that they've been given over to a reprobate mind,
you can't just quit believing.
You're not going to just quit believing the truth.
Once you're saved, you're always saved, right?
So it says, and you're not, so he says, verse 12,
So after he had washed their feet,
so they eat dinner, he washes their feet,
and had taken his garments,
and he was set down again.
He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
He called me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am.
Is Jesus your Master and Lord, then?
Yes, he is.
So he's not just a regular man, Jehovah's Witnesses.
Right.
He is Master. He is Lord.
And Lord is Adonai in the Greek.
So I'm not trying to go back to the Greek here.
I'm just saying, but that word means Jehovah.
It's the same, you know, when they take, you know, the Greek
and put it in, you know, the Old Testament quotes that are in Hebrew
and put them into the New Testament, you know what they say?
It's Adonai, it's Lord.
And so, you know, it's not wrong to call him Lord
in the Old Testament verses,
because that's what it means in the New Testament, basically,
is what I'm trying to say.
So anyway, I don't want to get into that.
I've already talked about that before.
So, but anyway, let's see.
You call me, so he says, I am your Lord.
I am your Master.
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet,
ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
So now he's gearing this into, you know,
you're not all, you're just separate little lords now.
And, you know, I want you to do this for each other also.
For I've given you an example.
See, this is why it's not something we have to continue to do,
as in, hey, like you saw me do this,
now everybody needs to wash each other's feet.
He said, I give you an example that you should do as I have done to you.
So he's not saying that he wants everybody to wash each other's feet.
He's saying he wants people to serve each other
and he wants that servant leadership style to be what people go forward with.
So he says, verily, verily, I say unto you,
the servant is not greater than his Lord,
neither is he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
So, and he teaches this concept,
this concept is taught constantly in the New Testament
and I want to rattle through some verses here
and since we don't have a clock still in the back,
I'm just going to keep going here.
So let's just look at Acts chapter 20.
We'll just flip through some verses here.
Acts chapter number 20.
Now, of course, this is talking,
Paul's talking about how people have given to Paul's necessities
and giving to people's necessities isn't always just money.
It could be food or clothing or whatever,
a plane ticket, a bus ticket, you know.
Paul liked to fly or go by a boat sometimes.
He got in a few shipwrecks, but it says in Acts 20 verse 35,
it says, I have showed you all things,
how that so laboring you ought to support the weak
and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
how he said is more blessed to give than to receive.
So, you know, that can be talking about money, of course.
It could be.
But he's just saying in general,
it's better to do things for other people
than to have other people do things for you.
So it's more blessed to do things
because you're going to get blessed for the things that you do.
Now turn to Galatians chapter 5 verse 13,
Galatians chapter 5 verse 13.
So I'm really going to kind of hammer home
this whole concept of servant leadership
just because I think it's so important.
It's the main topic of the whole, you know,
it's my main whole topic of the chapter anyway.
But look at Galatians 5 verse 13, it says,
for brethren, you have been called into liberty,
you have been called into liberty,
only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh,
but by love serve one another,
for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this,
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
But if you bite and devour one another,
take heed that you be not consumed one of another.
So we are called liberty,
but, you know, he wants us to love one another
and to love our neighbor as ourself
and we shouldn't be just biting and devouring one another,
we should be loving one another.
Look at Matthew chapter 20 verse 25,
Matthew chapter 20 verse 25.
Now he's talking more specifically here
about how we minister.
And this is really what John is talking about,
you know, in the book of John tonight,
he is talking about how leadership ministers to other people.
But everybody's a leader.
In some way, shape, or form,
dads or moms are leaders to their children.
You know, at some point children,
Lord willing, are going to have their own children.
So how you act towards your younger siblings,
you might be a leader to your younger siblings that you have.
If you have younger siblings,
how you learn to lead yourself,
you know, those things are going to come in handy later
for you when you have your own children.
And, you know, everybody, like I said,
has some sort of leadership in their life
or they're a leader over somebody in some way, shape, or form.
Look at Matthew 20 verse 25, it says,
But Jesus called them unto him and said,
You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them
and that they are great exercise authority upon them.
This is, like I said, this is how the people in the world,
when it's talking about Gentiles, a lot of times in the New Testament,
it's basically talking about the unbelievers, okay?
And then it says,
But it shall not be so among you.
Among who?
Among saved people, among Christians.
But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.
And whosoever will be chief among you,
let him be your servant,
even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.
So here he is again teaching this doctrine of servant leadership.
Even the greatest leader of all time is saying,
Hey, I didn't come to be ministered to,
I came to minister to other people.
Mark 935, you don't have to turn there, but turn to Mark 1045.
Mark 935 says,
And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them,
If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
See, as Christians, our desire should not be to be the first.
And if it is, then you should be the last.
That's what he's saying.
You should be the servant of all.
If you really want to be first, and that's a paradox.
He's like, if you really want to be number one,
his disciples are fighting over who's going to be next to Jesus or whatever.
He's like, well, first of all, that's not mine to give.
But if you want to be first, you've got to be last.
If you're not first, you're last.
No, you've got to be last to be first.
So if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
That's how you rise to the top. You serve.
If you serve the most, and you're the lowliest person, then you're actually first.
Isn't that strange?
It's like this concept, whenever I see someone and he picks something up off the ground,
I always go, there's a number one worker.
Because it's true.
The person that picks up the piece of paper, you're like, well, no, that's the servant.
Exactly.
That's the person that's the boss in the room.
The boss walks in and he sees what needs to be done.
The boss walks in and he's the one that picks the piece of paper up because he wants it to look good.
The workers will just walk by and say, hey, tell me what I've got to do.
So if you want to be first, you've got to be last.
That's what he's saying.
Mark 1045 says, for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.
A little passage to the one in Matthew.
So what is the secret to being the ultimate leader?
I think we've already seen it, right?
Servant leadership.
That's what it's saying.
Be careful when you put that on your resume because they might catch that.
Maybe they won't.
Maybe they don't have any clue.
A lot of people don't know a lot about biblical things these days.
Maybe that's been lost in the annals of time.
It's been a while since I've had to fill out an application.
When I would do an interview, I would say what I mean by that is that
I understand that as a leader it's my job to do the paperwork
and I have to make sure everything's done right
and all the safety stuff has to be done,
but I also want to make sure that I don't ask people to do things
that I can't do myself or that I couldn't do myself
or I won't ask people to do things that I can't do or I won't do.
I believe that you work with your people, not just get that over there.
There are times when you have to do that, obviously,
but if you're at the boss and you're over 30 people,
you can't just be doing some mundane task the whole time all day
and just letting everybody do whatever they want.
I'm not saying that, but you should be willing to do that
or teach someone how to do that.
What are the keys?
Well, lowering yourself, humbling yourself, that's what he did,
putting others before yourself,
esteeming others better than yourself,
not just telling people what to do but showing them by example what to do.
These things are just not easy.
They're not easy to do because we, as human beings,
we love ourselves a lot more than we're willing to admit sometimes.
We love ourselves and we're pretty dang selfish sometimes,
especially when we're tired and our flesh is weary
and we just want to eat or we just want to sit down
or we're done for the day.
But if you want to be a better boss, learn how to serve, learn how to follow.
If you want to lead, you've got to learn how to follow.
If you want to be a better husband, learn how to love your wife
and put her needs above yours.
If you want to make your wife happy, stop being so selfish all the time.
I need to follow my own advice. I know this.
But there are times when we're more selfish
and maybe if your wife isn't happy,
maybe you should start putting her a little ahead of yourself sometimes
and taking care of her, realizing that she's a little more fragile than you are,
that she can't always just push through with you and things like that.
If you want to be a better wife, serve your husband.
Maybe he has had a hard day and instead of nagging at him
about what didn't get done right or whatever,
come in, rub his shoulders, serve him his dinner or something.
If you serve your husband dinner, he's going to really appreciate that.
That can go a long way.
I had this lady that I worked with and her mother-in-law
gave her a silver platter that was passed down in the family.
It was like the chart, like the John the Baptist type.
No head was served in it, I don't think.
But she gave it to her.
I remember this lady being so offended that she did this.
But she used to serve her husband's mother, her mother-in-law,
used to serve her husband dinner on that silver platter every night
when he came home for dinner.
She's giving this to her.
I don't know. I didn't know him that well.
I worked with her every day for seven years or something,
but I didn't know her that well.
She just was like, throw that piece of crap in the garbage or whatever.
She would never think about serving her husband.
One time I just talked to her.
I was like, maybe you should serve your husband dinner on that platter sometime.
She was like, no way, I'm never doing that.
I was just like, okay.
Well, you know, you get a little bit, you get, well, I don't know.
But I just thought it was a great idea.
Maybe her mom was trying to save their marriage.
I don't know.
Maybe she wanted to see her son treated better.
I'm not sure.
But you want to be a better mother, serve your children.
Obviously, a lot of mothers do serve their children.
That's not really hard to do.
Women just naturally want to serve their husbands.
But in the society that we live in, then you're just allowing yourself to be,
your husband's a misogynist if he's asked you to do stuff like that.
It's just like, that's ridiculous.
That is the world telling you something that's wrong.
They can go off and burn their bras and put bones in their noses
and whatever else that they want to do and say that a man can't do this
and a man can't do that.
But let me tell you something.
When the sewer systems are broken outside,
they're not going to crawl in there and fix it.
They don't know how to unplug that drain.
Do you think that they're going to get down and do it?
They can't even lift the stuff that you need to get down in there and do it.
They can't run the operating machines to get down and dig the holes.
Do you think they're going to hand-dig a poopy pipe?
It's disgusting.
I don't want to go in there.
I don't even know if I would.
I'm a man and I wouldn't want to do that.
Give me clean water, I'll do it, yeah.
But it's just men are better at just doing certain things.
This world's gone crazy.
Anyway, I don't want to get too far into the weeds there.
And then, do you want to be...
Kids, try this.
You want to make your parents happy?
Why don't you try doing something that isn't on your tour list?
Doing something for your parents that they haven't asked you to do.
Go above and beyond.
Serve your parents every once in a while.
And you know what?
Maybe they'll stop riding your taste about everything that you're not doing right.
Because if you're just sitting around the house just being lazy
and not helping out and you have to be told everything to do,
it gets old.
It doesn't take a village to raise kids,
but sometimes kids can help out around the house.
I had to do chores my whole life.
I had to get up.
I'm telling all those old dad stories or whatever,
but we lived in the country.
We lived out in the meadows and it was cold in the wintertime there.
And I used to have to get up and split the kindling
and start a wood stove fire in the morning.
That was my job because I was the oldest.
I was probably seven years old or something.
I used to have to go out to the mountains with my stepdad
and haul lumber and fill up his truck.
We'd do that multiple times in the year.
You're not done when you just stack it and load it.
Then you have to go and you have to split it all.
And then you have to stack it all.
We had this huge shop where we just had cords.
He just went crazy.
We're just stacking all this wood.
I got pretty good at splitting logs as a young man.
I got pretty good at cutting kindling.
You sharpen that thing up and it's pretty good.
I'm just saying that it's not always about this or this.
You need to learn how to work with your hands
and prepare yourself for life because guess what?
When you get older and you move out,
you're going to have to do some work.
If you're not prepared for it, at least somewhat,
you're going to be in for a rude awakening.
The first time your husband asks you to make him an egg sandwich,
you're like, what? What's an egg?
You're going to be in trouble.
Anyway, John 13, 18.
Let's see what time we've got here.
I speak not of all you.
I know whom I have chosen,
but that the scripture may be fulfilled.
He that eateth bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.
Now I tell you before it come that when it come to pass,
you may believe that I am he.
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me,
and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
It's a very interesting passage here.
What's he saying?
First of all, he's saying that he wants you to believe that I am he.
I'll tell you before it come that when it come to pass,
that you may believe that I am he.
Then he says, I say unto you,
he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me,
and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
He's saying that when he sends us,
what are they receiving?
They're receiving him.
When we knock on people's doors,
and they slam the door in our face,
or they call us whatever, whatever, blankety-blank,
or they say they're not interested,
or however they say they don't want it,
they're not really saying it to us.
Don't worry about what your face looks like,
or how disheveled you were in your presentation.
Ultimately, what they're rejecting,
they're not rejecting you.
They're rejecting him.
But when they're receiving you,
they're also just not receiving you.
It's not like it was your polished attitude.
I mean, maybe some of that goes with it.
Of course, if you're just all weird at the door,
you know, work on it.
But you know what I'm saying, though?
What's Jesus saying here?
He's saying that when they receive you,
they're actually receiving me.
So it is kind of a cool thing that he's teaching here.
When someone receives the so many messages of the gospel,
they're in fact receiving Jesus.
They're receiving us, they're receiving Jesus.
And this is the ambassadorship program
that Jesus Christ has set in place.
He left, he's gone.
Jesus isn't the Jesus of Calvinism
that just saves people,
and people don't understand how it happened.
This is what the Jesus of Calvinism teaches.
It's a false gospel, by the way,
that all of a sudden he just saves you,
gives you the power to believe,
he gives you the ability,
and then all of a sudden you just get saved.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 5.
I've got to hurry up here.
2 Corinthians 5, verse 18, it says,
And all things are of God,
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
Who are we reconciling?
We're reconciling whoever we're talking to, to God,
because they've got a problem.
God has a problem with them,
and they might have a problem with God.
It's just like a marriage,
they're just fighting, they can't get along,
and then someone comes in and says,
hey, let's work this out.
That's what we're doing.
We're ambassadors.
We're like people from the United Nations,
but we're not wicked.
We're the real United Nations.
We're trying to unite this world for God,
and we're trying to get these two to be friends again.
How do we do that?
We preach them the Gospel,
and we tell them about Jesus,
and we tell them how He loves them,
and we tell them how He was crucified,
and He went to hell for three days and three nights,
and they're like, would you like it?
All you have to do is just ask for it.
Then they ask for it, and they get it.
That's our job. We're ambassadors.
It's a pretty cool job.
To it that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them,
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
What's that word?
Well, it's the word of God.
We're not just preaching our little antidotes
and our little funny stories and our testimony.
We're preaching the word of God.
Our ambassadorship is to preach the word of God to people
so that they'll know what God said.
It's just like ambassadors probably have to say,
well, this is what the president said.
This is what he wants to offer you.
This is what whoever said, do you accept these terms?
We're telling what God's terms are,
and they can either accept them or reject them.
Look at verse 20, it says,
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us,
we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God.
This is our main job.
This is what we're trying to do,
and we want this to happen.
Number two tonight,
that was a long, long first point there.
Number two, Satan himself possesses Judas Iscariot.
Look at verse 21.
This is the first time,
besides the snake or the serpent in the beginning of the Bible,
where you see Satan himself actually possess someone.
That doesn't mean it's the only time it's ever happened,
but it's the only time we've ever seen it in Scripture.
Verse 21, when Jesus had thus said he was troubled in spirit.
I was just thinking about some of the things that are said here,
and just thinking about them.
He was troubled in spirit.
So it's not like he just says it nonchalantly.
It's like when he had thus said he was troubled in spirit,
he's kind of just kind of,
I don't know if he's getting emotional or what's going on here,
but says, and testified and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me.
Then the disciples looked one on another,
doubting of whom he spake.
So it's like, you know, you could just cut the tension with a knife.
They're all sitting there.
They'd already eaten dinner.
They'd already got their feet washed.
Then they're sitting there, and he's teaching them,
and then all of a sudden he just brings this subject up again.
So he says, one of you are going to betray me.
I don't know if he's looking at them.
So it's like when someone,
have you ever had someone accuse you of doing something,
and even though you're not guilty of it,
you still feel weird because they're accusing you of it?
You know what I'm talking about, that feeling?
And you're like, and you kind of feel like,
do I look guilty?
Do I look like I'm, I know I'm not guilty,
but I feel like I look like I'm guilty, you know?
So they're like looking at each other.
That's what it says.
They looked one on another like, hmm, is it him?
Is it, it's not me.
Maybe it is me. I don't know.
But anyway, it says, now there was leaning on Jesus, bosom,
one of his disciples whom Jesus loved,
and I believe, of course, this is John the apostle,
and I don't want to get into the why now,
but I do believe it's him.
It says, Simon Peter, therefore beckoned to him,
that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
So this is another little interesting interaction
that I just kind of pinpointed on here.
So they're all kind of just like probably not talking,
but so this is probably why Peter didn't just come out and ask him.
But, you know, Peter and John have this,
these weird interactions for the rest of the book of John.
It's like they're both interacting together during,
you know, because Peter denies him.
But John and Peter follow, Peter follows John.
John takes him to the place where they're going to crucify him.
John goes inside. Peter stays outside.
Yeah.
And even at the end when Peter is told by Jesus that,
you know, he's going to be taken to a place he doesn't want to go.
And then he's like, what about him?
So they do have a lot of interesting interactions,
but, you know, and they're kind of the inner circle.
It's, you know, Peter, what is it, Peter, James, and John, right?
So they're pretty close already, but he says,
it says, Simon Peter, therefore, beckoned to him.
He's like, say something.
You know, he's just like, like he should ask.
So it's like John gets it.
I mean, I think it's John anyway.
So he says, so, but, and then one thing I also,
I want to say that he's laying on, he's leaning on the bosom of Jesus.
So that means the chest, right?
He's just kind of like, and that's not something that's normal in our culture.
Right.
We don't understand this, but they're all pretty close, you know?
Yeah.
And this is where people will say,
oh, Jesus's disciples were homos or whatever.
That's because someone's a pervert that would say that.
They're a fag probably.
And that's why they would say something like that.
But yeah, not, not true.
So anyway, it says he was, he was lying on Jesus's breast,
saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
So he gets the, he gets the sign language that Peter's trying to give him.
And he says, Lord, who is it?
Jesus answered, he it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it.
And so a sop is probably just like a piece of bread or whatever.
And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
So, I mean, this is like, you know, a pretty intense, intense situation,
but not everybody really knows what's going on.
He's already said this.
People have looked around at each other.
There's some like, some inner circle stuff going on.
And then it's like, it's the person who I've dipped the sop and handed to him.
So he tells them who it is.
And then like, he doesn't really get that that's who it is.
Nobody does.
And then it's interesting though.
It says he dipped the sop and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
I don't know who Simon is.
There's quite a bit of Simons.
I've never done a full blown study on this whole thing,
but I know there's the Pharisee named Simon from last chapter that we looked
or a couple of chapters ago, and there's Simon the leper.
I'm not sure what Simon it is, but it's not Simon Peter.
Okay.
And it says, and after the sop, Satan entered into him.
So as soon as he gave him the sop, Satan entered into him,
not just some regular devil.
When it says earlier in the chapter, the devil, it's talking about Satan.
He's the devil.
Then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest do quickly.
And so Judas is the son of perdition.
Judas is considered the son of perdition.
That's what Jesus calls him.
So what's he saying?
He knows what he's going to do.
He's going to betray him.
He says, I know you're going to betray.
One of you are going to betray me.
He's going to do this quickly.
And he is going to immediately go out after this,
but I want to show you a couple of verses here.
So there's a couple of people called the son of perdition.
One of them is Judas and the other one is the antichrist.
And so I believe that Judas is a picture of the antichrist in some ways.
Now I'll show you why.
John chapter 17, just flip over in your Bible,
a couple chapters there.
John chapter 17, verse 12, the Bible says,
While I was there 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.
So Jesus flat out calls him the son of perdition, right?
Now, I was trying to find the one in Thessalonians where it says,
or is it? Is it 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 or is it 2 Thessalonians chapter 3?
Where it talks about the man of sin.
Does anybody know the reference real quick off the top of their head?
Because I didn't put it in my notes.
Anyway, let's see.
Can anybody cue it up real quick?
I knew I forgot something.
I was like, I'm forgetting something.
This is the second.
The second is the one in chapter 2.
Three?
Second Thessalonians.
Yeah, second Thessalonians.
Second Thessalonians.
I feel like there's another verse.
Sorry.
Oh, the man of sin.
Okay, so.
Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come, except there shall come a falling away first,
and the man of sin be revealed the son of perdition.
Okay, that's it. Thank you.
So when I searched for that in my Bible software, it didn't come up with the word.
Maybe it's spelled different there or something. I don't know.
Anyway, he's called the son of perdition, and that's not talking about Judas right there.
That's talking about the antichrist.
So there you have Judas Iscariot being called by Jesus.
It's clearly talking about Judas Iscariot.
He's being called the son of perdition, and then you see the antichrist being called the son of perdition.
So they're both being called the same thing.
Why are they both called the son of perdition?
Well, I think that it's because they're both possessed by Satan himself.
That's why.
So, I mean, because Judas doesn't really, I mean, he's a reprobate.
The antichrist is a reprobate.
But really, the similarities, you know, he's an antichrist.
I mean, Judas basically becomes an antichrist.
I mean, he betrays Christ, and he pretends to be saved, and then he's really not.
He pretends to be saved and then becomes the worst person.
And this is what we see when we see infiltrators come into our movement,
or we have, you know, people that we thought were our best friends,
and then now they're the worst enemies that we could possibly ever have.
I mean, I knew these things would happen.
I was told these things would happen.
And then to actually see them happen is a totally another thing altogether.
And, you know, they'll, of course, make it out, well, it's because these pastures are bad,
but it's just like, no, dude, you're a freak.
That's what's wrong.
You know, Judas is scary for real.
You're like everything that he is.
So they're pretenders.
They pretend to be saved.
They come in, and then they reveal themselves.
They cause havoc.
So he's the son of perdition, and the antichrist is called the son of perdition.
In Revelation 17, 8, it says, excuse me, I won't have you turn there,
but it says,
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit,
and go into perdition.
And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life
from the foundation of the world,
when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
And so isn't that interesting that it uses that wording,
because that's what it says about Christ,
that he was dead, and he's alive forevermore.
In Revelation 17, 11, it says,
And the beast that was, and is not, even is the eighth,
and is of the seventh, and goeth into perdition.
So everybody thinks that the antichrist is the Messiah.
The Jews think the antichrist is the Messiah,
and they're going to say, oh yeah, come on into the temple,
and then he's going to betray everybody and go into perdition.
Christians are going to think that he's the Messiah.
The Muslims are going to think he's the Imam Mahdi.
Every religion is going to think that he is Christ,
and in actuality, he's going to be antichrist.
He's going to be the son of perdition,
and so when he dies of this head wound,
he's going to come back from hell,
and he's going to be possessed by Satan,
literally like Judas Iscariot is possessed.
Now, Judas Iscariot doesn't die,
and he dies and then goes to hell,
and he doesn't come back.
So now, let's see.
We don't have time to go to any other verses,
but in Revelation 13, it talks about all that stuff too,
if you ever want to do an extra little bit of study on that.
Let's go back to John. I know I've got to hurry up here.
I want to finish the chapter.
Satan and his devils, I already talked about how they can possess.
Let's go back to verse 28.
It says,
Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him,
for some of them thought because Judas had the bag
that Jesus had set unto him by those things
that we have need of against the feast,
or that he should give something to the poor.
Having received the sop, went immediately out,
and it was night.
People do bad things a lot at night,
and it was his time and the power of darkness.
This sets forth a chain reaction that is not stopped.
This is where he goes out.
He goes to get the chief priests and their soldiers
and come back to arrest Jesus in the garden later on.
Verse 31 is point number 3.
A new commandment is given by Jesus.
Verse 31 says,
Therefore when he was gone out,
Jesus said,
Now is the Son of man glorified,
and God is glorified in him.
If God be glorified in him,
God shall also glorify him in himself,
and shall straightway glorify him.
Little children,
yet a little while I am with you,
you shall seek me.
And as I said unto the Jews,
Together I go,
You cannot come,
so now I say to you.
Remember, he said that to the Jews,
and they were like, what?
He was confusing them.
He was confounding them with all that, remember?
But I love how he calls them little children.
That's a real endearing term.
They're grown men with hairy legs and toes and whatever.
But he calls them little children
because they really are kind of like that.
A lot of things that he says to them,
they still don't really understand.
They don't really understand fully everything
until after everything happens.
It's not that they weren't saved,
but think about it.
If we see two Passovers,
really is all we really see.
People will always say three and a half to three and a half years of Jesus' ministry.
I don't know if you can really get that out of there.
If you only see two Passovers,
that's not really three and a half years, is it?
That doesn't mean it wasn't,
but I don't know why people say that,
but we don't really know how long it was,
but we do only see two Passovers.
So take that for what it's worth.
So if they're little children,
why is he calling them that?
Well, because the moment you get saved,
you're a babe in Christ,
no matter how old you are.
You can be an old 80-year-old man
that's about to pass away, and he's a baby.
He's a baby in Christ,
and he's calling them little children.
So I'm guessing he's saying that as an endearing term,
but also the fact that their understanding
is probably still at the level of little children,
maybe to this point.
I don't know.
I mean, they are going to be pastors and apostles after this,
but again, they don't really fully understand everything until later.
There will be things that he's like,
how are you without understanding still?
He really gets onto them in Mark chapter,
in the book of Mark, when he really gets onto them.
He gets onto them a lot in the book of Mark.
You really see the sight of Jesus,
where he's kind of the boss,
that he's really nice to them and good to them,
but then there's times he really gets frustrated with them
because they don't understand what he's saying.
Anyway, it says, let's see,
A new commandment I give unto you,
that you love one another as I have loved you,
that you also love one another.
He's not just saying that because it's not a new commandment.
He's saying it because it is a new commandment.
They're still under the old covenant at this point,
but it still goes into the New Testament.
A lot of commandments go from the Old Testament into the New Testament,
just because people get this weird idea
that everything in the law is just done away in Christ.
Everything is done. So stupid.
Unsaved people would think that.
That's what I think.
I mean, if you're totally unsaved, you might think that,
but I don't understand how you could think that it's okay to kill people
and just get away with it.
It says, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another.
He doesn't say, if you go soloing,
he doesn't say if you go to church,
he doesn't say if you pray,
he doesn't say if you give money.
What's he say?
All men shall know you're my disciples if you have love one to another.
And I'm not talking about lip service.
I'm not talking about the fake love that you get at some churches
where there are people like, Hey, brother, you know, that kind of stuff.
But then when it actually comes to love, they don't really show love.
And the moment that you leave that church,
everybody's talking bad about you,
or they're talking bad about you while you're at church.
They don't really love you.
They don't really care for you.
It's fake.
And, you know, so he's not talking about fake love.
He's not just talking about saying that you love somebody.
He's talking about actually loving your brother,
actually loving each other.
He said, This is my commandment that you love one another,
and this is the hard part here,
as I have loved you.
That's the hard part because he loved us a lot.
He loved them unto the end.
He loved them with a sacrificial love.
I'm not going to say agape because agape just means love.
All right.
But here's the thing.
He loved them a lot, and it's hard to love someone
as much as Jesus loved us, isn't it?
So again, there's a standard that we have to try to get to.
It's kind of like Job in the Bible.
Aside from Jesus, Job is the benchmark we want to try to reach
as a spiritual man in the Bible,
and ladies, it's the Proverbs 31 wife.
But Jesus is really the one that we need to achieve to,
and that's really difficult.
So it's something that we have to try to reach for and stretch for,
and we're probably never going to love someone like Jesus loves.
But we can have our moments.
We can try.
We can put the effort in.
It's not like it comes natural.
A lot of times you're going to love your own family members
more than you love church members.
Look, there's a lot of family members that I love,
but if it all boils down to it,
I'm going to choose Christ and His family
before I choose family members that are not saved and don't love God.
Sorry. I know that sounds weird, but it's just true.
It just is.
Because greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends.
So what kind of love is he talking about?
A type that you would die for one of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
That's what he's talking about.
He said, you're my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.
You want to be a friend to Jesus?
You want to be able to say that Jesus is my friend?
Well, do what He says.
Do what He commands.
That's what the Bible says.
That's in John 15. Sorry.
I should have had you turn there.
Let's finish this off.
There's other verses, but I'll save those for chapter 14
because he says it again in chapter 14.
Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter 25
how when people come and visit and visit in prison
and I was sick and He visited me in prison and He came to me.
And all these things.
Do we have time?
Let's go to Matthew chapter 25.
I just want to finish off Matthew chapter 25 and we'll be done.
Promise.
I don't know what time I started preaching.
That's all I was worried about.
It's an hour and a half.
It's 6.30, right?
That's not quite an hour and a half.
You guys ready for two hours?
Just kidding.
Matthew chapter 25.
He says He wants us to serve each other and love each other.
This is kind of another paradoxical thing.
Not paradoxical, but it's something similar to what I brought up earlier.
Look at Matthew chapter 25 verse 34.
It says,
Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,
Come, ye blessed of my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungered and ye gave me meat.
I was thirsty and ye gave me drink.
I was a stranger and ye took me in.
Naked and ye clothed me.
I was sick and ye visited me.
I was imprisoned and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him,
Saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and fed thee?
Or thirsty and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in?
Or naked and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick or imprisoned and came unto thee?
The king shall answer and say unto them,
Verily, I say unto you,
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me.
So just like when we give the gospel,
like I was talking about earlier,
people are receiving Christ, not us.
When we come to their door and they say yes,
or if they reject us,
they're rejecting or receiving Christ, not us.
But his message and his gospel and salvation
is what they're actually receiving.
Now, when we do good works and good deeds,
like he's listing here, you're visiting someone in prison
or you're helping someone, you're praying for someone that's sick,
you're helping someone that's sick,
and then he says you've done it like
when you do it for the least of these my brethren,
you've done it to me.
So now it's the opposite.
We are doing it to somebody else,
and it's like we've done it to Christ.
That's how he takes it. Isn't that cool?
That was really cool.
Anyway, so when we do good words or good deeds for other people,
it's like we do it for Christ.
That's how he looks at it.
So that's like when they're asking like,
well, when were you in prison and we came and saw you?
When was that?
It's like, no, you did it for brother so and so or sister so and so.
When I was sick, you came to visit me.
When was that?
When have you been sick, Jesus?
You've been in heaven this whole time.
No, but you did it for so and so.
Now I took it like you came to visit me.
So that's kind of where I want to finish is that Jesus,
I didn't finish the chapter, dang it.
One last bit here.
I promised, but I'm sorry.
Jesus' denial.
So Peter's denial.
He foretells the denial.
I'm sorry, I didn't realize I had one page left.
John 13, 36.
I'm sorry, you guys.
Simon Peter.
I'm not going to be here for a month.
So you're getting a month's worth here.
Simon Peter said unto him, Lord,
this is my last point.
Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, whither goest thou?
Jesus answered him,
whither I go, you cannot, canst not follow me,
but thou shalt follow me afterward.
John 13, 37.
Peter said unto him, Lord, why can't I follow thee now?
I will lay down my life for thee, for thy sake.
Jesus answered him, wilt thou lay down my life for my sake?
And the way I feel like he said that is just like,
you really think you're going to lay down your life for my sake?
Verily, verily, I said unto you,
unto thee, the cock shall not crow,
till thou hast denied me thrice.
So here's that famous prophecy that comes true
that very next morning.
When a rooster comes out,
right before it's about to be light,
right when you can kind of see like the part,
the light kind of start to come out.
Right?
So, and that we know that that happens,
but I would just like to say this.
It's good to be bold for the Lord.
It's good to say, yes, I'll take this stand.
I would die for you, Lord. I would die for Jesus.
I'd let someone burn me at the stake
and all this and that,
but we act in really strange ways
when we're put under really crazy amounts of pressure.
You'd be surprised about how quickly
you could change your mind about being so bold
and saying what you would do and wouldn't do.
I think that this is a very good point to think about
before you start spouting off your mouth
about what you would die for and who you would die for.
Maybe you should just pray that you would be bold enough
or have enough strength to do such things
in that face of adversity.
When Ahab was about ready to fight Ben-Hadad,
he's about ready to give him all these dumb things
that he's asking for.
Ben-Hadad sent him and said,
The gods do so unto me and more also
if the dust of Samaria shall suffice
for handfuls of all the people that follow me.
And the king of Israel answered and said,
Tell him, let not him that girdeth on his harness
boast not himself as he that putteth it off.
Don't start talking about your victories
and all the stuff you're going to do
before you actually do it.
I think this is a good point that goes along
with what Peter says here.
Peter should have just said,
I would like to die for you,
but I pray for boldness.
We should be bold.
We should be willing to stand for the Lord,
but we need to pray for that hour of temptation,
that we would actually be faithful unto the end.
And if we ever should find ourself in that situation,
that we would have the strength
to let the Holy Spirit guide us.
And say what the Holy Spirit has to put on our heart.
Because that's what we're actually supposed to do.
He says the Holy Spirit is going to give us
what we should say at that moment.
So don't start saying stuff before you ever get there.
You know what I mean?
All right, that's it.
I really am done now.
All right, let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for this great night of church.
We pray that you just bless the food that's to follow.
And we pray that you just bless us
and give us a safe passage home tonight.
We pray for all those that are sick
and those that are healing from ailments
and things like that.
Pray that you just bless the rest of our night here.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right.
Thank you for that sermon, Pastor.
Let's go ahead and turn to 441.
We'll sing our last hymn.
All the way back here.
All the way in the back.
Over 441, Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
On the first.
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not thy compassions, they fail not.
As thou hast been, thou forever will be.
Great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest.
Moon and stars in their courses above.
Joy with all nature in manifold witness.
To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth.
Night, O dear presence, to cheer and to guide.
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
Blessings, O mine, with ten thousand beside.
Great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
Thank you so much for coming out to Sure Foundation Baptist Church Seattle on this Wednesday afternoon.
Hope to see you on Saturday at 11 for soul winning if not for a full day of church and fellowship and soul winning on Sunday.
So with that, brother now will you please close the prayer and bless the food please sir.
Thank you Heavenly Father for that wonderful sermon that Pastor Thompson preached Lord.
And I pray that it edify us and strengthen us when we think about what Jesus Christ expects from us for the brethren and one towards another and the love that we should show and not to speak of.
Thank you Heavenly Father for the hands that provided the food Lord.
I pray that you bless the food and I pray that you bless all of us and those that can be here.
I pray that you heal them and that all of us will be at church on Sunday Lord.
And we pray that we get even more people out there safe.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.