GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 21

Our  book this month  is a continuation of “Chiseled by the Master’s Hand ~ Lessons From the Life of Peter,” by Erwin  Lutzer.  Dr. Lutzer is  Canadian-born and served as Senior Pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years, until his retirement in 2016.   He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Moody Church.  He’s written many books and has radio and internet teaching programs.

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THE MASTER’S HUMBLE TOUCH

(Read John 13:1-20)

A LESSON ON CLEANSING

Peter had misunderstood the symbolism.  He had already had a bath; he didn’t need another one.  Only his feet were dirty.  So Christ explained:

HE WHO HAS BATHED NEEDS ONLY TO WASH HIS FEET, BUT IS COMPLETELY CLEAN; AND YOU ARE CLEAN, BUT NOT ALL OF YOU. (John 13:10).

With that Jesus washed Peter’s feet, then sat down to give a further explanation of what He had just done.  This act not only got their feet clean, it was to serve as an illustration of spiritual cleansing and an example of humble service.

Clean feet are a picture of a clean heart.  The dust of the streets is symbolic of the smudge of this world.  Christ is teaching what it means to be cleansed, and also the need to distinguish between a “bath” and having one’s feet washed.

 There are two washings signified by two Greek words in this passage.  There is the bath (“luow”), which is the bath of regeneration, or justification.  It is the complete cleansing that takes pace when we accept Christ as our Savior and become one of His.  God declares us to be as righteous as Christ Himself is!  This bath cleanses us forever and we need it only once.  This washing takes away our sins – past. Present, and future – since He has “canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”  (Colossians 2:14).

New Christians often ask, “After I’m saved and I sin, do I have to be saved again?”  The answer is NO.  The bath of regeneration never loses its power.  Once we accept Christ as our Savior, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.  (Ephesians 4:30); we are adopted into God’s family (Romans 8:15); joined to Christ as a member of His body (Ephesians 5:30); and our names have been “WRITTEN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD IN THE BOOK OF LIFE OF THE LAMB WHO HAS BEEN SLAIN.” (Revelation 13:8).  God is not about to undo what He has so securely done.  He does not leave His children for adoption, or lose them in a child custody battle.

There is a second bath (“nipto”), the washing of the feet.  This cleansing takes place repeatedly, every day when we admit our sins to God.  It is the washing of 1 John 1:9:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

You can measure your own spiritual maturity by asking how long it takes you to get back into fellowship after becoming aware of sin.  Carnal Christians let their sins stack up;  those who walk in the Spirit confess their sins at the very moment they become aware of them.  This is sometimes called “keeping current accounts with God.”

Peter learned that this washing demands submission.  It means that we let Christ wash us even though we may be embarrassed for committing the same sin again and again.  Often those who get caught in a cycle of failure do so simply because their submission to Christ is incomplete.  Confession means that we agree fully with God, even giving up our right to commit that sin again.  The goal of confession is to restore our fellowship with God and to give us a basis for spiritual victory and freedom

What did Christ mean when He said to Peter, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me”? (John 13:8_ As a believer, Peter was already joined to his Master, and after the Ascension he would be a member of Christ’s body.  When Christ said that washing was necessary in order to have a part with Him,  He was referring to personal fellowship.  This is the meaning of the word “part” in Luke 10:42, where Christ commends Mary for having chosen “the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” In 2 Corinthians 6:15, Paul says that Christians have no “part” (KJV) with demons.  That means we have no fellowship with them.

Within a few hours, Peter would deny Christ.  He would grieve because of his weakness and fear of claiming Christ as a friend.  Spiritually speaking, he would become dirty again, and would have to have his feet washed.  He would have to humbly accept the washing of Christ.  But he would not have to experience the BATH OF REGENERATION again.

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Acts 26:18

to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

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Matthew 12:37

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

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Acts 13:39

and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

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Romans 3:20

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

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Romans 3:24

being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

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Revelation 7:14

And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

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John 17:19

And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

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1 Corinthians 6:11

And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

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