Bramhall, John W: Signs & Miracles Of Christ

Turn in the Gospel of John to chapter thirteen, the thirteenth chapter of the great Gospel according to John. One of the greatest books, particularly in the New Testament, presenting to us the person of the Lord Jesus in the glory of his person and the greatness of his deity, together with his humanity. Shall we read in chapter thirteen beginning at verse one down through verse seventeen? John writing to say, 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 riseth 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 to him, He that is washed, meaning bathed, needeth not say to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, 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've 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 your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I've given you an example that ye should do as I've 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 you know these things, happy are ye if you do them. Verse twenty three, the twenty third verse only. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. May God bless the reading and the hearing of his precious word. It is a wonderful scene that we have before us, the blessed Lord Jesus alone with his disciples. For as we have read in this thirteenth chapter of John, we have come to the great section se- second division of this wonderful gospel. You will find the gospel of John could be divided mainly into two great divisions, chapters one through twelve, then chapters thirteen to the end. In the first division, w- you will find particularly that the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, is presented by various signs that are recorded, or miracles, to prove that he was the Messiah of Israel, and to prove that he was the Son of God. Those miracles, they're not all that the Lord did. They are only seven in number, beginning, as you have in chapter two with the, with the changing of the water into wine on the occasion of the wedding in Cana of Galilee. The consummation of those miracles, you may well remember in chapter eleven, was the raising of the, of Lazarus from the dead after he had been in the grave four days. Let me just point out very carefully, those miracles are signs, they were given to prove who he was. Chapter twenty and verse thirty and thirty one, John wrote near the end of the book saying, many other signs or miracles did Jesus, but these are written that ye might know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. So the first great division of John's gospel was to prove who he was, and that men might believe on him. And those signs and miracles were particularly brought to the nation of Israel to prove he was their Messiah and even the Son of God. You have one verse in chapter one and verse eleven that describes the result, and it is a sad result, of those miracles and signs of his glory in relation to the nation of Israel. John writes at the commencement of the gospel in chapter one verse eleven, Jesus came unto his own, and his own received him not. It is a sad commentary. They rejected him. And one might ask the question, is there anyone here today who is rejecting the Savior? God grant, if you are rejecting him, do so no longer, but receive him. For when you come to the last section of this great gospel, as we read in chapter thirteen and verse one, you find the Lord Jesus in the upper room, together with those whom he calls his own. Those who had received him. Now, in John chapter one and verse twelve you have a description of who they are. In chapter one verse eleven of John, you have a description of those who rejected him. In chapter one and verse twelve you have a description of those who received him. As John writes, saying, but to as many as received him, to them gave he the power, the right, the privilege, the authority to be called the sons or the children of God, even to them that believe on his name. We may ask the question lovingly, earnestly, have you received him? In the go- great Gospel of John, you have the preeminent word in some form of the verb believe, or believeth, or believing, possibly about a hundred times. For the emphasis in John's gospel is we must believe on him to have eternal life. We must receive him to be a child of his. We must receive him to belong to that company of whom we read in chapter thirteen, his own. For when you read chapter thirteen and on, and particularly through chapter seventeen, we have the Lord Jesus together with his own. In chapter thirteen, he does the last great act, performing that last great act to wash the disciples' feet. In chapter fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen you have his last great words. They're worth reading. They're worth meditating upon. In chapter fourteen they are words of comfort. As they were told he was leaving them, and he gives them great words of comfort, and comfort for their hearts. In chapter fifteen, his words are words to empower their lips and their lives to make them fruitful for him while he is absent from the earth. In chapter sixteen, he tells of the coming of the Holy Spirit to instruct their minds, and how we need to be instructed. And then in chapter seventeen, you have the last great prayer. The chapters form a very precious portion, one of the greatest sections of scripture, particularly when you think who is the center of those chapters, the Lord Jesus and his own around him. In the scripture that we have read in chapter thirteen, I'm sure you've recognized in that last great act the Lord Jesus performed, you first of all are introduced to a wonderful love, a love that says, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end. For what follows was motivated by his great love for his own. It is a love that never will fail. It is an endless love. It is a faithful love, and thus he pe- performs that wonderful act, and he sets before us, as we have read, a wonderful example. But this morning, I'd like you to note with me, in the reading that we had, three particular truths relative to what can certainly be called the salvation and the blessing of those who trust in the Lord Jesus. If you will go with me to verse, read with me down in verse ten. I want you to notice a word that I'll have to translate different from what you have in your version, which is the wrong translation, except the meaning of it can be implied by the original. Verse ten: Jesus said to Peter, he that is washed. Now the word in the original Greek is different than the other word that we shall see. It means he that is bathed all over needeth not save to wash his feet. Go back with me in chapter, the same chapter, if I may, read in verse five where we read of the Lord Jesus after the supper. He lays aside his garment, and in verse five he poureth water into a basin. And note the word basin. Then in verse thirty three, the last one we read in our reading, you have these words: Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. I want you to meditate with me on the three words. In verse ten, the word bathed, which is the right translation, bathed. In verse five, the word basin. And then in verse twenty three, the word bosom. We'd like to speak of them in that order, a bath, a basin, and a bosom. Now, if you've read this account very carefully, I'm sure you've noted that Peter demanded when the Lord wanted to wash his feet, and the Peter found that the Lord said, if I don't do it, you won't have any fellowship with me. He wanted to be washed all over. But the Lord Jesus says, he that is bathed, meaning washed all over, he only needs to have his feet washed. Now, what did the Lord mean? What was implied by the washing of the feet as well as the bathing all over? Well, if you're familiar with the old Roman government and the Roman Empire of old, I recall as a young lad in England, we had many relics of the Roman Empire visible. There is a city called Bath in England, which was so called because of the public Roman baths that had been installed by the Roman government in the days of the Roman Empire. And these public baths were for the use of the citizens. And they could get a bath, but they had to go home after the bath. And many times they had dusty, dirty roads to travel on. And of course, when they arrived at home, their feet were dirty. And it was the custom to wash their feet as they entered the home by the basin of water that was provided, and quite usually, oftentimes by a servant that might be doing the task. But the Lord Jesus said to Peter, he that is bathed, he's had a bath. He's clean all over. What did the Lord mean? Now, I'm sure you would realize that back of the meaning of it is not just the literal bath. Boys love to get a bath, don't they? Oh, no? I read one time a double ring ceremony was two boys in a bathtub. Well, what did the Lord mean by getting the bath? Oh, what the Lord meant is this, and I want to ask you, have you had a bath? You say, what do you mean? Well, let me quote a hymn. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in his grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? For what the Lord means was a judicial bath. You see, what for? Did you know that your sins are very dirty to God? And before God, sin is the ugliest, dirtiest thing in his sight. And when he looks at you and me, by nature, we're sinners. It's not the color of our skin that makes us black in his sight. It's the sins we commit. It's the deeds that are bad, that show we've got a heart of sin, and our soul is black in his sight. David made a prayer in Psalm fifty one. He said, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Why did he want to be bathed? Why did he desire that wash? He sinned. He confessed, I sinned against thee and in thy sight. And he was sorry. He was repentant. He was in contrition, confessing his sin. Have you ever done that? What have you done with your sins? You may think of the words of another old hymn. What can wash away my sin? What can wash away my stain? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious in is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And maybe as a boy, or even as a girl, you might not like a bath. But how about your soul? You want to meet God with your sins that have never been washed away? You need a bath. Oh? Where can I find that? I think of what the prophet Zechariah wrote in chapter thirteen of his prophecy, when writing of a future day for his people Israel, of a fountain open for cleansing. For may I say, you'll never get to heaven unless your sins are washed away. You'll never see the glory of God's kingdom unless your sins have been taken away and your soul has been washed in the blood of the Savior. You need a bath, and it's not a bath for your body, it's a bath for your soul. What have you done about your sins? Well, did the poet write another lovely hymn? There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. Can I quote the chorus of those words that follow? I do believe. I now believe that Jesus died for me, that on the cross he shed his blood from sin to set me free. Now, I'm not interested whether you had a bath at home, but I do ask the question, have you been to the Lord Jesus? Have you taken to him all your sins and said, Lord Jesus, wash me? I know I'm a sinner. I need my sins to be forgiven. I need them to be washed away. And it is written in his word, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from what? All sin. And if you're afraid of a bath in the bathtub, please don't be afraid of coming to the Lord Jesus and, Lord Jesus, please wash my sins away. And Peter is told, Peter, you don't need a bath, you had one. But when you get a bath and your sins are washed away, it's done forever. Hallelujah. You don't need two baths. I got my bath sixty seven years ago, and I'm still clean before God through the precious blood of Jesus. My soul is whiter than snow because Jesus took my sins and died for them on the cross. Would you like your soul washed? That's what you need. An inside bath. My soul washed in the blood of the Lamb. You need the bath first, and then, as the Lord Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, from that bath, they walked along the dusty, grimy roads to the upper room. And though none of them would do the act, the Lord of glory stooped to wash the disciples' feet. Then they needed the basin. Now, when you get a bath, when the Lord washes your sins away, then you better be sure that you use the basin. You say, what's that? Well, when you walk through this kind of a world that we live in, we feel it's dirt, its grime, its soil, its defilement. Oh, we hear sin on every hand. We hear words that are not what God would have us to hear, and we can't always help it. And we feel as though it makes my heart defile, my mind, my body, my life. But you know, for those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, God has provided a basin. You say, what's that basin? It's a basin of water. But the water is the word of God. It's not literal water. In Ephesians chapter five, let me quote these words, verse twenty five and twenty six, where John ri- uh, the Apostle Paul writes, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word." For after the Lord Jesus gives you a bath, after you come to him as a poor, guilty, hell-deserving sinner, and he forgives your sins and washes them away from before a holy God and makes you clean before God, said, now look here, you're still in the world, and I love you, but I want to keep your feet clean. I want to wash your feet, and I've got a basin for you. It's the word of God. The psalmist wrote in Psalm one nineteen verse 11, 10 rather, wherewithal, verse nine, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. And then in verse eleven, thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. I need the basin. I need the word of God. I may not need a bath, but I sure need to keep my feet clean as I'm walking through this world. And here's the basin of water, the word of God. Let me illustrate it. If you read in Exodus chapter nineteen, as well as I think you'll find it in the book of Leviticus, the in Exodus chapter, in Exodus chapter nineteen and some of the chapters of Exodus where God prescribed the tabernacle with all of its furnishings. There was one thing that God provided for the priest that served him, and it was called the laver, and in that laver was water. And every time those Jewish priests went into the tabernacle or the temple to do what God wanted them to do to serve him, they had to wash their hands, and they had to wash their feet in that laver of water. And God said, if you don't do it, you'll die. That was his command. Lest you die. When you come in, when you serve me, when you do what I want you to do, I want you to get, keep yourselves clean. Wash your hands and your feet. Did you use the basin of water this morning when you got up? Oh, I went... No, I'm not going to ask you if you went to the bathroom and washed your face and your hands. Did you go to the word of God? That's the basin. Peter couldn't understand it. Lord, you'll never wash my feet. Wait a minute, said the Lord Peter. If I don't wash your feet... He didn't say I'll have nothing to do with you, but he said, Peter, if I don't wash your feet, you won't be going along with me the way you should. And if you have found Jesus as your savior and you neglect the word of God, you're not going along with your savior the way you should. He wants to keep your feet clean and my feet clean. And that basin of the water of the Word of God is how the Lord Jesus keeps us in fellowship, and how we keep in fellowship with Him, by thus letting the Word cleanse our way, wash our feet, and keep us in our walk as we go through this life clean. In chapter fifteen of John, the Lord told his disciples, you're clean through the word I've given you. You're clean. And as he said in this thirteenth chapter, you're all clean, except one, that was Judas. He wasn't real. But he said, the rest of you have had a bath. Now he said, I want to keep your feet clean. I want you to think with me very carefully. First, the bath, judicial cleansing, my sins washed away forever through the precious blood of Jesus. Have you had your bath? Did you ever come to God through the Lord Jesus and said, Lord Jesus, I want to be perfectly whole. I want thee forever to dwell in my soul. Cast down every idol, cast out every foe. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. I read a story very interesting when I was young, told about the Prince of Wales in that particular day long ago, who went to visit a certain noble man. And when he came to the home of the noble man that he was calling on, he had to wait for him. He sat waiting, and while sitting there, a little girl came running in the room. She didn't know who he was, didn't care too much particularly, but in a friendly way, she jumped upon his knee, and she said, let's play games. All right, he said, what should we play? Well, he said, let's play guessing. Let's have a guessing game. You guess what I mean, that when I ask you a question. All right, what's the question? She said, what is whiter than snow? And the prince thought, and he named flowers, he named different things that he knew were very white, and she kept saying, no, no, that's not it, that's not it. And then after a while he said, well, I'll have to give up. What is it that's whiter than snow? And that little girl told him, it is a soul that has been washed in the precious blood of Jesus. How true that is. Oh, may I say, no sin too black. No sin too great. The blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin. Many years ago on the city of Detroit, I recall in my younger days, there were what they call gangs. Purple Gang was one of them. I remember speaking to a young man who belonged to them. By the way, he was from the south, from Georgia. How he got with them, I don't know, but anyway, I had the joy of speaking to him of Christ and later found he trusted the Lord. But one of those gangs, one of the men one time was listening to some young men preaching in the open air in the street of Detroit. He was across the street listening to their message. When they were finished, he called the boy over to him, and he said, fella, come over here. So the boy went over, and the young man went over, and he said to him, look, that stuff you're preaching, Jesus Christ, his blood can wash sins away. Is that true? The boy, yes, said, true, it is true. The blood of Jesus Christ, the Bible says, cleanseth us from all sin. The man looked at him, and he pulled his coat aside like that, and he said, look, and there were two guns, one on each side. He said, fellow, I'm a gangster. Can he do that for me? Well, what the boy said could only be said, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. The man looked at him again and said, look, putting his hands out, he said, look at my hands, there's blood on them. Meaning that it killed. What could the boy answer? Well, what the Bible says. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from what? All sin? Murder? Mm-hmm. Name any. What a wonderful thing. What a cleansing to have all your sins washed away. My. I think that's a wonderful savior, don't you? Who, through his precious blood, can give us that judicial bath, cleanse us from all sin before God, and then to have a basin. And that basin of water, to let it wash my feet, my life, my walk every day. What for? In verse twenty three, look. There was somebody got near to the Lord Jesus, nearer than the rest of the disciples, probably John. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. The bath, the basin. God wants to bring you near to the bosom of Christ. And John could learn and did learn the secrets of the Savior's love and of his heart. He got nearer to him. A little later on, the other disciples were fighting as to who'd be the greatest. John was enjoying something better. He was getting nearer to the Lord. Nearer, nearer, still nearer, close to thine heart. Draw me, my Savior, so precious thou art. Fold me, oh, fold me close to thy breast. Shelter me safe in that haven of rest. Just let me ask the question. If you've had your bath, if you know the basin, the word of God, how near are you to Christ? John was the only one leaning on Jesus' bosom. And may I say, the bath and the basin, when properly known and understood and enjoyed, will bring you to the bosom of Christ. And I like what John said when he wrote the words, there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, he doesn't name him, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Jesus loved them all. One got nearer to him. And let me ask again, how near am I? How near are you? And if never you've come to the Lord Jesus to get your back, will you do it today? And if you've come to the Lord Jesus, will you keep your feet in the basin? And will you get nearer to the bosom of Christ? Shall we pray before we sing a closing hymn? Father, we thank thee in the name of the Lord Jesus for this precious lesson. The Lord Jesus having loved his own in the world, he loved them with an intensity even greater as he knew he was leaving. And we thank thee for his provision. He went to the cross to die, to provide the death for our sins. He left the basin of water, the precious word, to keep our feet clean. And even greater, he made it possible for us to get nearer to his heart. We pray today the bath and the basin and the bosom will not be forgotten, but some dear sinner will trust, some dear boy will say, Lord Jesus, I want to bathe, my soul to be washed in your precious blood. Or girl, or man, or woman. And we who are thine keep our feet in the basin, and Lord Jesus, draw us nearer to thyself. We ask it in thy precious worthy name. Amen. Could we sing one verse of number two hundred and fifty three? I'm sure you know it, just the first verse. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in his grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Two hundred and fifty three. Shall we stand as we sing it? Sing it now.