Humility, Holiness, and Happiness — John 13

0:00 Well, good morning, everyone. It's a blessing to be back. For those of you who we've not yet met, my name is Patrick Clough, and my wife Carrie and our five children are here this morning. We live just outside of Cary, Ohio, which is about an hour and forty five minutes west and south of here. And we're just blessed to be back once again here at Westlake Bible Chapel to fellowship with you and worship our common Lord and Savior Jesus Christ together.

0:27 And we continue the study in the book of John, I'm told. We've been moving through John, and today we come to chapter 13. Let's just open our time this morning by reading that. John 13, and we'll see if we can get to verse 17 today. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

0:57 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it 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 had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and took a towel and girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel which he was girded. Then he came to Simon Peter and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will know after this.

1:38 Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you, For he knew who would betray him.

2:02 He therefore said, you are not all clean. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments, and sat down again, he said to them, do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and lord and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.

2:28 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who sent is sent is greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. And we trust the Lord will bring glory and honor and understanding to the reading of his word. And so we find ourselves here in John chapter 13 in the last week of the Lord Jesus Christ's earthly ministry and life on the earth. And here in the upper room in Jerusalem, he's celebrating the Passover with his disciples.

3:00 And the Lord is giving him here final instructions and comfort before, as it says here, he goes to the Father. And He does it by giving them this unique object lesson using foot washing to teach the disciples and us some important lessons. And as I was reading through this passage preparing, this phrase kept popping into my mind that many of you have heard, maybe from your mom and dad. Do as I say, not as I do. You ever gotten that one before?

3:38 And it's funny, but man, what a hypocritical thing, isn't it? I hope I've never said that to my kids. I probably have. It's not really a great way to teach someone, is it? Do as I say, not as I do.

3:51 It's also not a great way to learn, is it? But we have a Lord and a savior as displayed in this passage where you and I this morning can have confidence to do both what he says and what he does. Do as I say and as I do. And there's three things I'd like to point out this morning. If you like a three point illustration, here it is.

4:19 And they all start with h. Humility, holiness, and happiness. Those are the things that the Lord is teaching us this morning in this passage. There's probably more, but that's where we'll go today. We'll start with humility.

5:10 Look at it closely with me here. First, He took a towel and He girded Himself. Well, first actually He rose from supper and laid aside His garments. Just like when He came to earth, He laid aside His glory to come be with you and I. Here He also took a towel and girded Himself like a slave and washed dirty feet.

5:34 In His eternal plan He humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross to wash the sins of humanity. Also in this passage, He takes up His garments again, rises from His humble foot washing service, and sits down back at the table once He's finished. In his eternal plan, he rises from the dead to prove that he's God, puts his heavenly garments of glory back on, and sits down at the right hand of the Father. It's a picture of the Lord's plan. It's pretty neat.

6:02 It all starts with this lesson in humility. The context is key here. What is happening in the upper room? It's important to note. We get a glimpse of it, and it was even mentioned this morning in our remembrance meeting in Luke 22, when we see the disciples have just finished asking the Lord what?

6:22 Who is the greatest? And so what does the Lord respond with? By taking out his armor... Outer garments, his garments of dignity, and putting on the clothes of a slave, and getting down and washing feet. Why?

6:39 To show them who the greatest is. He's the greatest. Jesus Christ is the greatest in the kingdom of God, and His example of humility is our goal. If we're to be conformed to Christ... By the way, did you know that that is God's stated goal for you and I, To be conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

7:02 And if we're going to get there, we have to learn to be humble servants. When I went to college, my dream was to be a sportscaster on the radio. I figured, well, I like sports. I like to talk and I have a face for radio. So the perfect fit, really.

7:29 So I found this little college in Southern Illinois where I could get on the radio, even as a freshman. And I thought that was awesome. And when I went to school in early August, of course, that's football season. They're getting ready for football. And they were about to start their season, and I was asked to just go ahead and travel with the team, and though I'd never been on the radio ever before in my life, to go ahead and go and broadcast the games.

7:54 Mainly so that the coach's wives back home could hear the game. The high school I went to didn't have a football team. Our school was so small, it wasn't in the budget. But I figured I'd seen enough games on TV to do a decent job broadcasting the games. My real love is baseball, but it wasn't baseball season yet.

8:14 But to do a really good job, I thought I ought to go to some practices and just get to know the team a little bit. The players, what they do, even what uniforms they wear, so I don't call the game the wrong way. And when I showed up to observe my first practice, the team was doing this drill called low man. Are there any football players in here? Ex football players?

8:35 High school? Yeah? Okay. Maybe you did this. I don't know.

8:39 But they were doing this drill called low man. And the idea of low man was this. There would be two guys standing across each other much like you would on a football game. And the idea was to take the other guy down by getting as low as you could get while still keeping your feet. And there were like 30 pairs of guys doing this.

8:59 Whistle. Go. Get up. Whistle. Go.

9:02 Get up. Over and over and over. Tackle up. Tackle up. Tackle up.

9:05 And while this was going on, the coaches were walking around all these different, you know, groups of of men screaming at them, low man wins. Low man wins. Who's gonna be the low man? And it occurred to me... I'm not sure it occurred to me then, but as I think back on it now, that that is absolutely not the mantra of the world in which we live.

9:31 Low man wins? Seems to me that in the corporate world, the entertainment world, and the sports world, that there's a fight to be on top. Right? Be number one. And it's pervasive even in our thinking in the church.

9:46 And sometimes we don't even realize it because it's just the culture in which we're born into. But what it takes to be number one in the Kingdom of God? Let's see. Flip with me to Mark nine real quick. Mark chapter nine.

10:24 I love that. Of course the Lord knew, He wants them to make their own bed. But they kept silent, not wanting to make their own bed. For on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And He sat down, called the 12, and said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.

10:47 So who's successful in God's kingdom? Who is the upwardly mobile in God's kingdom? Those who go low. Low man wins. Those who serve.

11:02 In God's economy, the way up is down. How opposite is that with what most of us have grown up with? Right? From t ball on, we are told to win, win, win, win, win. Beat your opponent.

11:18 Serve your opponent. No. Beat him. And as in most things, many things were taught growing up, at least me anyway. What we see on TV, what we read about, what we hear about on social media, you name it.

11:33 Many of these things are almost always the opposite of what God's Word teaches, almost always. First Corinthians chapter one confirms this idea when it says, Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. And so you and I this morning have to make a choice, don't we? We're going to every day have to decide whether we're going to win for ourselves or in a sense lose our our life and be a servant for God. Low man wins.

12:09 He really does. And I like lists. And I like being practical when I have a chance to share from God's word. And I was all ready to start here and provide a list of things that I thought would be great ideas for us all to go out and do to serve and to show God just how low we're willing to go for him. But as I was thinking about this list, and I had a nice one going.

12:33 I really did. I began to feel almost convicted to not share a list, but to think about this idea. What is the greatest need? There's all sorts of wonderful things we can do, and we should. And please don't hear me wrong.

12:53 We should serve one another, serve our communities, serve our world. But what is the absolute number one greatest need that we can serve this community in this world? What's the number one greatest need of the over 7,000,000,000 people walking on the face of this earth? I think it's to tell them this news, that sin has a hold on their life and that sin offends a holy God. But they can have eternal victory over that sin because of the victory that Jesus Christ has accomplished on the cross, where Jesus has taken that sin upon Himself, paid its penalty and its price, and thereby through His death, burial, and resurrection justified, made you right with God if you would repent and accept this news as truth, and then you're reconciled to God for all eternity.

13:44 Do people need to know that? I mean, there's lots of needs. We can agree on that. But can we agree that this is the greatest need of our world? This is the eternal need, the only one.

13:57 You want to meet the greatest need someone will ever have? Tell them this news. Jesus Christ is the answer. The life, death, and burial of Jesus Christ is good news that will meet every need. Afraid of what's going on in the world?

14:10 I have good news. Afraid of getting sick and dying? I have good news. Afraid of thermonuclear holocaust? I have good news.

14:24 Afraid of what will happen if that candidate gets elected? I have good news. Afraid of losing your job? There's good news for that too. Afraid that your spouse isn't interested in you anymore?

14:43 I have good news. Afraid that you have no purpose and nothing to show for your life on this time on earth, there's good news. And most importantly, are you afraid of what will happen when you die? Oh, there's good news. Jesus is the answer.

15:04 A couple of chapters later in chapter 16 here in John, it's the same scene in the upper room. It's amazing how the Word of God slows down here. John, the Lord, comforts the disciples in verse 33 and says, These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have good news.

15:31 I have overcome the world. You know, folks, we have a leader and a Lord and a Savior who has overcome temptation, sin, and death. And He offers you and me rescue from these things too. Rescue. And I want to submit to you today that it takes humility to share these things with people.

15:54 It may be the most humble thing you ever do to say to someone, look, I'm not perfect. I don't have the answers. I don't have my life altogether either, but I can introduce you to the one who is the answer. Because the easy and more natural, frankly selfish thing to do would be to ignore or not care about somebody's eternal destiny. To keep it to yourself and even in our pride, say something like, well, they made their bed, now let them lie in it.

16:28 It doesn't take me any effort to say something like that. It comes very naturally. But to go to someone, especially someone you know or a family member, and to share the good news of Jesus Christ means going low. To care, to open yourself up to criticism, to try to give answers, it's perhaps the lowest but maybe the best service that you can do for someone. And you know it's interesting because even in order to become a Christian, to be saved in the first place, the ultimate humility is required, isn't it?

17:05 Doesn't it take a humble, even broken spirit to say, I am a mess. Sin has a hold on my life. And if there is a God, I've offended him. I had somebody tell me that exact thing yesterday. And people like that need your help.

17:26 And it takes humility for you and me to give them the answers and to respond in humility and say, look, I don't have it all together either. But let me tell you about my Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ. It takes humility to trust your life to Him, both this and the next. But He's trustworthy. He's a trustworthy savior.

17:50 Why? I love what it says in verse three of our passage here. The father had given all things into his hands. And in those same hands, what does the lord do with them? He takes a basin and a towel, and he washes dirty feet.

18:08 And he serves, and he seeks, and he saves. Did power and position corrupt Jesus Christ? Absolutely not. And since this is what the Lord did with his authority that he had, can we not trust him? Can we not trust him in all things?

18:55 But there's more. And there are two words I want to point out to us this morning that stand out to me. The word wash and the word bathe. The word translated as wash in these verses means to wash a part of the body, like you go wash your hands or you wash your face before bed. But the word that we have translated as bathe, at least in some of your translations, means to thoroughly bathe all over, from head to toe.

19:24 And we say to that, alright, so what? Who cares? Well, here's how it works. We're all born in sin. Romans six twenty three says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

19:35 There's not a moment when you're a little kid that you decide to start sinning. You just are born that way. Were your parents sinful? Yes. So you are too.

19:46 Let's move on. Oh, yeah. If you were born in Adam's race, by the way, you're a sinner. So it's everybody. It's the wide gate that Matthew chapter seven talks about.

19:58 And it says it's a wide gate that leads to destruction eternally. And there are many on it, the entire human race. It takes a choice to divert and to get off, to accept the merciful and gracious gift of eternal life and trust your eternal soul to Jesus. And when you make that choice, you are bathed all over. Your sins are washed away and forgiven.

20:27 It's a one time event. Turn with me to Titus chapter three for a second. Titus three. These are some powerful verses for a guy like me, and maybe they'll resonate with you too. Titus three verses three and four.

20:53 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. How? Through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So the first part of that verse, verse three, We were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts, pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

21:39 Sounds like whoever lives like that needs a spiritual bath, don't they? And so God provides it. He provides the bath. You see, God so loved the world, He loved you, that He gave His highly exalted, holy, holy, holy Son, Jesus Christ, the darling of heaven, to come lower himself and ultimately die on a cross because you and I are described in this first part of Titus three. That's you and I.

22:18 We needed our sins forgiven. But whoever believes in this Jesus, whoever loves Him and places their eternal trust in Him, they won't perish. They get off the wide road, take a detour onto the narrow path that leads to eternal life. Have you trusted in Jesus Christ this way? Many of us know about Him.

22:39 Maybe you've gone to church your whole life. Maybe you could stand up here right now and recite memorized Bible verses. But are you trusting in him? To take your understanding of him and to act on it, to begin your union with him and be bathed all over, to join the royal priesthood and start a new life today. Today can be the greatest day of your life.

23:03 I'm not kidding. Seriously, the greatest day of your life. Because when you accept Christ as your savior, you'll be bathed all over and washed of your sins. And at that point, you will be judicially clean in the eyes of God. In his courtroom, you will be innocent for all eternity, and it's a free gift.

23:39 Remember washing just one part of the body, bathing everything all over. The distinction here is important because the lesson Jesus is teaching this man and the lesson that the Lord has for us here in this passage is a lesson on holiness. When we were bathed all over, if you have done that deal today, as we've talked about, you were put into union with Jesus Christ, joint heirs with Jesus. That relationship cannot change. I believe the Bible teaches that once you are saved, it's forever.

24:16 None that belong to the Lord can be snatched out of his hand. So our union with Christ can't change. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. However, our communion with him can.

24:27 This is why James chapter one tells us that we should keep ourselves unspotted from the world. If we let unconfessed sin fester in our lives, it defiles us and it defiles our fellowship with the Lord. Our walk with him is diminished. And that's why we need from time to time to make sure our feet are washed or cleaned. This point is one of the basic things of Christianity, and we really get a neat picture of it in the Old Testament priesthood in Exodus chapters twenty nine and thirty.

24:59 We don't need to turn there, but if you're interested in this, you can write this down and look later. Here's how it worked. When the priest in the Old Testament way of things was consecrated, they actually bathed him all over. You remember reading this? And that experience was never repeated again.

25:20 It was kind of like the initiation into the priesthood. We're going to bathe you. It was a one time event. However, the priest would certainly, definitely would become defiled in his day to day ministry. So then what would he do?

25:35 He would go to the brass labor in the courtyard of the tabernacle and later of the temple and wash his hands and his feet. And it was only after he washed up could he carry out his service and return to that service for the Lord, entering the holy place, trimming the lamps, eating the holy bread, burning the incense, the things that the priests did. Now during our day and age now, we have an opportunity to be one time bathed all over. Initiation into the priesthood. It's our first day on the job.

26:10 By the way, if you have union with Christ, you are part of the priesthood. And as an aside, you are part of the clergy. You've already been ordained by the Holy Spirit of God. Hallelujah. You don't need to go to seminary or even Bible college.

26:22 I just saved you $20,000. Praise the Lord. You're welcome. I know that because later our friend Peter here writes a letter inspired by the Holy Spirit of God in two Peter two verse nine. He says, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim, you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

26:52 So it's that one time event that puts you into union with Christ. Oh, but how can we keep our feet clean so that we might continue to serve and fellowship with him as we should? What water can keep the spiritual dust off of our feet so that our communion with the Lord is rich and full? How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to your word.

27:19 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify her and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. God's word is the answer. You want to keep your feet clean? God's Word provides all that you need. And I love what it says here in our passage in John 13.

27:41 It says, Then He came to Simon Peter, which, by the way, sounds to me like He wasn't first, was He? Interesting that some other disciple or disciples came first. In fact, Jewish historians tell us that likely it would have been the trustee of the company. Who was that? Judas Iscariot.

28:02 Imagine that! Can you picture now Peter, back to Peter, as the Lord Jesus stoops as a slave to wash the feet of these men in the room? And Peter's watching. There goes Judas. There goes the next one.

28:19 There goes the next one. And I can just see Peter sitting there getting more and more perturbed at this, probably not having a clue as to why the Lord Jesus was doing this. And then the Lord comes to Peter, and Peter does so often, as he does so often in the Gospels, speaks impulsively and out of ignorance and says, You're not washing my feet, Lord. No. And Jesus could have kept things simple by saying, Well now Peter, if I don't wash your feet, my little lesson here is not going to work, so let's just stick with the program and be quiet and get on board.

28:55 But that's not what He said. Did you catch what He said in verse eight? Blows us away. If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Okay, now you've got my attention.

29:11 No part with me. The Lord is telling Peter and you and I today that if you refuse to wash and to keep spiritual defilement off of yourself, you are refusing my fellowship and you are in the same class as Judas. And so, of course, Peter, like every single one of us would, goes from saying, Okay, Lord, forget what I said earlier. Give me the works. Wash them.

29:38 Let's do the... Know, let's go. I'll take it all. Give me a bath all over again. But the full bath, as we've already talked about, is unnecessary because Peter is already in union with the Lord.

29:51 But Peter, just like you and I today, need our communion refreshed from time to time. As we pointed out, remember the disciples were likely a little spiritually dirty at this point. Luke 22, we pointed out, who's the greatest? Some pride and arrogance creeping in. Were they not?

30:11 So the Lord gets down and decides to teach them this lesson because their walk had become dirty. And that happens to us all. It may not be pride in your life. It may be. Is it the love of things or the world?

30:25 Is it lust of the flesh? The Apostle John, who also had his feet washed by the Lord, warns us of these three things. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.

30:49 Can you see as we've talked about these things today just how much the Lord's teaching, His example, and what He wants for us is just absolute polar opposite of the world around us. I mean opposite. Charles Spurgeon, a great English preacher from the eighteen hundreds, had a powerful illustration about this idea. I'd like to read it. It's very short.

31:15 If I had a brother who had been murdered, what would you think of me if I daily consorted with the assassin who drove the dagger into my brother's heart? Surely I too must be an accomplice in the crime. Sin murdered Christ. Will you be a friend to it? Sin pierced the heart of the incarnate God.

31:34 Can you love it? Folks, we need to be mindful of the avenues that sin has to get into our minds. So easy today, isn't it? We have all these wonderful tools at our disposal in the year 2016. And oftentimes they're wonderful and are blessings and are very helpful.

32:02 But other times, they become the very avenue that allows defilement to come into our minds and our hearts. Maybe there are some people, friends, relatives, things that you need to cut completely out of your life today. And maybe you're here this morning and you've been bathed all over. Maybe you're here and you're saying, I have a union with Jesus. But maybe your feet have gotten a little dirty and need a little wash.

32:39 Maybe things are feeling spiritually dry or stale. Ask yourself, what is making my feet dirty? What is it? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you because we need to keep our feet clean. We need to wash our sins in the word of God.

32:56 Confess your sins. You know, it can be such a humiliating thing to have to go to the Lord Jesus Christ to ask forgiveness for the same sin that you have already asked forgiveness for 37 times before. But do it anyway. He's faithful, meaning He'll always do it every single time. And He's just, meaning He's right to do it.

33:17 He has the position to do it, to forgive you for your sins. Jesus is the most holy, holy, holy God. His example of holiness is also our goal. And if we're to be conformed to Jesus Christ, humility and holiness is part of the program. If we're to have a part with Him, as He said to Peter, to participate with the Lord, holiness is required.

34:09 This is him years later writing, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance. But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.' Do as the Lord says and do as He does. And so we've seen and heard of His humility, of His holiness. And in these last few verses, we see that knowing and living life for him and serving him is the greatest happiness. Verse 17 here is key.

34:55 Happy or blessed, some of your translations will say, are you if you do these things. The sequence here I think is really important. Humbleness, holiness, happiness. And I think the world mixes that order up or probably even more closely leaves two of them out altogether. What is it that people are striving for in your workplace?

35:20 When you're at the store, when you're out and about, and you see people, what are people looking for in life? Happiness, isn't it? I just wanna be happy. It's the goal of almost everyone's life. Whatever makes you happy, do it.

35:33 Right? I just want you to be happy, sweetheart. Just whatever you think. But as long as you're happy, I'm happy. If it makes you happy, do it.

35:41 In the world's plan, happiness is first on this list. All the other stuff, you just kinda have to survive, you know. And I'll be humble once in a while or okay. If I need to not do something that's sinful, I guess I won't. Just until I can survive, until I get that new thing or that new job or that vacation, and then I can be happy.

36:03 Let's just get through all this other kind of ugly stuff until I can get to the happiness because that's the goal. But what's the problem with that? Well, that kind of happiness doesn't last. Whatever happiness is your goal, it's the wrong kind of happiness. It's cheap.

36:21 It's fleeting. And it's happiness that you have to just continue to seek over and over and over. And it's the kind of happiness that you continue to lose. And it's interesting because scripture that I can find never teaches us to pursue happiness. Happiness is never the goal of scripture, but it is a byproduct of a life that is lived in humility and holiness and the will of God.

36:51 God doesn't call you to happiness. Did you think you'd come to church and hear that today? If you wanted to hear that, you invited the wrong preacher. He doesn't call you to happiness. What he does call you to is obedience.

37:08 And when we obediently and humbly serve others and the Lord, when we walk in the path of holiness and we keep our feet clean, We're doing what he tells us to do. And guess what the result will be? Happiness. The Lord could say this because he perfectly obeyed and served the Father on his mission on earth. We see in many places, John eight comes to mind, he says that I always do the things that please the Father.

37:32 Always. Now this kind of happiness that we're talking about here is not like the happiness that you and I know and see out there. The world thinks of happiness as not serving, but in being served. Right? And happiness is not found in holiness, but doing things that are fun no matter if they're sinful or not.

37:55 But true blessing and joy come from when we serve others in the name of Jesus Christ. Humbly serving the Lord gives you true happiness. Now raise your hand since you've been a Christian and your entire life has been rainbows and sunshine. No hands. I'm shocked.

38:14 Of course not. We're taught in scripture that when we follow Christ, the world will actually hate us because of what the... I mean, think about what they did to our leader. They crucified him. Right?

38:26 We will have our trials in this life too. But the difference is, is that we know to whom we belong as Christians. We know where we're headed as Christians. And I don't know about you, but that brings me kind of a peace, even a happiness. A happiness that finds satisfaction not in what can...

38:46 Not in my own situation, but a satisfaction and a happiness in knowing that I'm a child of God and that no one can snatch me from his hand and that one day, if he doesn't come and get me, I'm gonna go be with him. And the more you think about the Lord... What the Lord was doing here washing the disciples' feet, it becomes more and more amazing. I've had the opportunity to look over this passage multiple times here over the last few weeks, and every time it just... There was so much I wanted to share.

39:40 Instead of that, he served them. So the Lord's example here is that it's not just good enough to know things about the Lord Jesus, but to take what we know he wants us to do and to actually do it. Happy or blessed are you if you do these things. James one makes it clear that blessing comes in doing the word and not being a hearer only. I think that's one of the reasons maybe why when we get married we say I do and not I know.

40:16 I love you, sweetheart, and I'm gonna get to know everything about you as much as I can. I'm gonna be able to recite passages about the history of your life. I'm gonna be able to talk to other people about my wife, but I'm actually not going to really do anything to show you that I love you. I just know you really well. Wives, how would you...

40:39 How would that how would that work? Would you be happy with that? My family and I try to do these Bible trivia outreaches. We just did one yesterday. And we meet so many people and talk to so many people who get all of our little six questions correct.

40:57 Four out of six, five out of six, six out of six. And you get to talking with them and you find out they have absolutely no personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They've not been born again. It's wonderful that they know these things about God's word, but knowledge isn't enough and nor is it even the goal. First John chapter two says that it is he who does the will of God that will abide forever, not he who knows the will of God.

41:52 This is God's formula for spiritual blessing. We have a loving, holy, and humble God, and you and I this morning can be confident in doing as he says and as he does. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your word. Oh, without it, we'd be so lost.

42:09 We'd just be doing what was right in our own eyes, and we see even in your word that that ends up in a terrible place. We thank you for the light that you've given us this morning, Father, that not that we would just be able to leave here and say we'd learned something new. But Lord, that even in our minds right now, begin preparing a to do list so that we can go from here and do things differently if we need to, to maybe change this, to cut this out, to begin to do this, to stop doing that. Lord, we want to do what you say, and we want to do what you've shown us to do. We thank you that we have you as such a wonderful, perfect example, and we thank you for the home that you provided us in heaven if we're in union with you.

42:56 And Lord, if there are any here today who don't know that they know that they know that they have union with you, Oh, Lord, I pray that they would find someone here to talk with and that they wouldn't leave this place today, Lord, until they are bathed all over in the blood of Jesus Christ. We pray these things in his precious name. Amen.