“Lessons
From Abigail” By Jesse
Rairdon May 27th,
2018
Please remain
standing, if you're able, and brother Pete Shepherd is going to come
and lead
us in a word of prayer for the message. Pete: Lord Jesus,
thank You for this day, and thank You for this
bringing us together safely. Lord Jesus, help us to remember this
Memorial Day,
what it means. Right now, we ask for a blessing on Your Word, the
reading of Your
Word. We ask that You bless the heart of Your servant Jesse, as he
brings the
message, this morning. Bless our hearts to receive what You would have
for us
today. And, help us to take what You've given us out to the world, and
shine Your
light, and draw all men unto You. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Please
be seated, except Brother Andy. He's going to come read for us, First
Samuel,
chapter twenty-five; we're going to read the whole chapter. That's the
text of
the message today, the main text of the message today. 1
Samuel
25:1-44
And Samuel died;
and all the Israelites were gathered together,
and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David
arose, and
went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon,
whose
possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had
three
thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in
Carmel.
Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail:
and she
was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but
the man
was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
And
David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. And David
sent
out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to
Carmel, and
go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: And thus shall ye say to him
that liveth
in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and
peace be
unto all that thou hast. And now I have heard that thou hast shearers:
now thy
shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought
missing
unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and
they will
shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for
we come
in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto
thy
servants, and to thy son David. And when David's young men came, they
spake to
Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
And Nabal
answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son
of Jesse?
there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his
master.
Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have
killed for
my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be? So
David's
young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all
those
sayings. And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword.
And they
girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and
there
went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by
the stuff.
But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold,
David sent
messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on
them.
But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither
missed we any
thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the
fields:
They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were
with them
keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do;
for evil
is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he
is such
a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him. Then Abigail made
haste, and
took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready
dressed,
and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins,
and two
hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. And she said unto her
servants,
Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband
Nabal.
And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert
on the
hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met
them.
Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow
hath in the
wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him:
and he
hath requited me evil for good. So and more also do God unto the
enemies of
David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any
that
pisseth against the wall. And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and
lighted
off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to
the
ground, And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let
this
iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine
audience, and
hear the words of thine handmaid. Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard
this man
of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name,
and
folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my
lord, whom
thou didst send. Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy
soul
liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood,
and
from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and
they that
seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. And now this blessing which thine
handmaid
hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that
follow
my lord. I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the
Lord will
certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the
battles of
the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. Yet a man
is risen
to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be
bound in
the bundle of life with the Lord thy God; and the souls of thine
enemies, them
shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. And it shall come
to pass,
when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that
he hath
spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over
Israel; That
this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord,
either
that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged
himself: but
when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine
handmaid.
And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which
sent thee
this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou,
which hast
kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself
with mine
own hand. For in very deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which
hath kept
me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet
me, surely
there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that
pisseth
against the wall. So David received of her hand that which she had
brought him,
and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened
to thy
voice, and have accepted thy person. And Abigail came to Nabal; and,
behold, he
held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart
was
merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him
nothing, less
or more, until the morning light. But it came to pass in the morning,
when the
wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things,
that his
heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And it came to pass
about ten
days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died. And when David
heard that
Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, that hath pleaded the
cause of my
reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil:
for the
Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David
sent
and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife. And when the
servants of
David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying,
David sent
us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife. And she arose, and bowed
herself on
her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a
servant to
wash the feet of the servants of my lord. And Abigail hasted, and arose
and
rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and
she went
after the messengers of David, and became his wife. David also took
Ahinoam of
Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives. But Saul had given
Michal
his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of
Gallim. Thank you,
brother. So, today’s message is going to be “Lessons from Abigail.”
There's
many more lessons that you could learn, but these were some things that
were
highlighted to me as I was praying and preparing for this message. Our
theme of
the month is from John, chapter eleven, verse two: John
11:2
(It
was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet
with
her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) The points for
the message is: 1)
Faith Moves
Us 2)
Dealing with
Difficult People 3)
The Importance
of Hospitality 4)
Wisdom Brings
Direction 5)
Humility Before
Honor Part
One: Faith Moves Us In verse
number eighteen, we saw that Abigail made haste. As soon as she found
out that
there was trouble coming, she said, “I've got to do something.
something's
wrong here. Lives are going to be lost.” And, she went, and made haste,
got
some things together, that what David asked in the first place,
provisions for
his men. To give you kind of a little bit of a history and background
on
Israel, it was kind of common in those days for shepherds to be out to
protect
the flock or the sheep, but they also had some sort of an army or
police by
them to kind of protect them from animals, as well as other invading
thieves, robbers,
armies, what have you. So, this whole time that Nabal had his sheep in
that
area, David was kind of protecting them. Sometimes faith moves us
because
there's not a lot of time to think about what we need to do. We hear
that
somebody's in the hospital, “I need to go visit them. Right now. I
don't need
to call a bunch of people and make a decision, I need to go visit
them.” God
lays it on our heart that somebody needs prayer, we pray for them,
right now.
Faith leads us to worship when we're maybe feeling stressed, or
depressed. Just
lift our hands and call on the name of Jesus. That kind of just takes
it away.
Faith moves us to do that. Faith moves us to pray when we don't see a
way
through difficult situations and difficult times in our lives. Faith
moves to
have a good testimony, as Parrish was talking about, the testimony
before the
testimony in the theme for the month. As they wrote about that, for
Mary, it's
a reminder, Parrish preached about it, they already knew that that had
happened, so they were talking about it beforehand, before it comes up
in the Scriptures.
That testimony is important. Faith moves you to have a good testimony.
Hebrews eleven,
verses one and two: it says: Hebrews
11:1-2 Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. We've been
talking about elders this month. You can't be an elder unless you have
a good
testimony. Very important. You can read the whole Faith chapter
(Hebrews 11),
it talks about each one of those elders, each one of those examples,
how Faith
moved them to have a good testimony. Part
2: Dealing with Difficult People How many of
you have ever dealt with difficult people? “Well, yes, Jesse, I’ve
dealt with
you.” Of course. My wife can tell you that. Sometimes I can be very
difficult. Sometimes,
you know, you want to just give me some space. But, Nabal was a
different kind
of difficult person. He was so obnoxious that no one could even talk to
him. In
fact, his name, if you look it up, the definition means fool, godless.
His
parents named him right that name, didn’t they? Pick it up in verse 14: 1
Samuel
25:14-16
But one of the
young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying,
Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our
master; and
he railed on them. But the men were very good unto us, and we were not
hurt,
neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them,
when we
were in the fields: They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all
the
while we were with them keeping the sheep. So he kind of
protected them. 1
Samuel
25:17 Now
therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; [they're talking
to Abigail here] for evil is determined
against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son
of
Belial, that a man cannot speak to him. 1
Samuel
25:19 And
she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come
after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. Sometimes the
response to that kind of person is not a thing. Just don't tell them a
thing.
You’re going to do what you have to do, but don't say a word to them.
That's
exactly what she did. She knew she couldn't reason with this guy.
Matthew,
chapter seven, verse six says: Matthew
7:6 Give
not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Some people
you just can't share the good news with. Some people you can't even
share truth
with. Some people you can't even be nice to. Now, David was difficult,
but he
was not unreasonable. you ever get so angry that you're just ready to
go fight
a bear with a twig? David was about that angry, and the closer he gets
to Nabal,
the angrier he gets. Reminding himself, oh, man, what he’s going to do
when he
gets there. Second Timothy, chapter two, verses twenty-four to
twenty-six 2
Timothy
2:24-26
And the servant
of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto
all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that
oppose
themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the
acknowledging
of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of
the
devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. Sometimes we’ve
just got to be patient with people. Sometimes people don't realize they
oppose
themselves. Sometimes they don't realize they're their own worst enemy.
And,
we're there to share with them. I'm not talking about a person like
Nabal,
because you can't cast them anything. But, someone like David, you
might be
able to just kind of be patient with that, be humble. Have you ever
been a
difficult person to deal with? Sometimes we think it's the other person
that's
a difficult person to deal with when it's really ourselves. Sometimes
when you
go in your prayer closet, God will let you see that. “Jesse, it's you
that's
being an angry, mean, stubborn, prideful person right now. And, until
you get
that right, I can't use you.” Maybe you've felt the same, sometimes.
Amen. I'm
glad I'm not alone. Got awful quiet there. God never deals with anybody
else
like that, right? We're all a bunch of perfect people here, right? Part
3: The
Importance of Hospitality Nabal didn't
feel like he needed to give David any hospitality. Now, you’ve got to
remember,
David and his men protected the shepherds and the livestock; he felt
like he
should have some hospitality. After all, it was the custom of the day,
but not
only that, they were family. If you remember, Nabal came from Caleb's
family,
which was one of the two spies that came from Judah, David also came
from
Judah, so yeah, they were distant, distant, distant cousins, but they
were
family. So, not only did he have to write it because he protected all
his
stuff, but they were family! You should be able to go to family and get
some
help, right? Hospitality is not only important then, but it is now.
Matthew, chapter
twenty-five, starting at verse thirty-four. Now, this is important,
because
Jesus is talking, here; so, let's pay attention: Matthew
25:34 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: So, He's talking
about judgement day. And, He’s talking about those on the right hand. Matthew
25:35-43
For I was an
hungred, 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 in prison, and ye came unto me. Then
shall
the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred,
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 in
prison,
and came unto thee? And 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. Then shall he say also unto them on
the left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for
the devil
and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was
thirsty,
and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in:
naked, and ye
clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Someone's in
the hospital, and you hear about it, and you go visit them, that's
hospitality.
That's the dirty work Chris was talking about. The one that, sometimes,
you
don't always get the credit from your fellow brother or sister about.
They
don’t always get the accolades, but God knows. God is not unrighteous
to forget
your work, and labor of love. Where your ministering, what you're
doing. Some
of you are sitting in this room because someone showed you hospitality.
Someone
invited you over to their house, saw you baptized, saw your family
baptized,
and you’re in this ministry because of hospitality. They will have
their
reward. It's sad to me when I hear people, supposedly in ministry,
saying, “I'm
not going to do that kind of work; I'll leave that for the people on
the ground
level. I'm too above for that. I've done earned my stripes. I visited
the sick.
I've went into the prisons. I've served. I've done my time with that
stuff.” Well,
you've got to get your hands dirty. Where would I be if someone didn't
show me
some hospitality? Show me some love? Take some time out for me? I
surely
wouldn't be here. Part
4: Wisdom Brings Direction Let's go back
to the hospitality, just for a second. Some people would say, “Well,
that's
just spiritual stuff. I don't really need to roll up my sleeves, and go
do the
dirty Work.” Go into James, where he talks about, “Say to your brother,
‘Depart
in peace,’ and you don't give the things which are needful, have you
really
shown your faith? Faith without works is dead.” If we don't do these
things...
Amen? If you don't give that brother or sister a ride to church, who’s
going to?
If you don't take them out to lunch after church, who’s going to? Share
with them
some more about the Scriptures; take time with them. If you don't take
their
call late at night, who will? Wisdom brings
direction. Do we got hospitality down? Can we move on? All right, amen.
This
could be a really quick message, or it could be really slow; it’s
really up to
all of us together. Because, I can talk for a while. Amen? But we're
not here
to just listen to me talk, we're here to get something from God. Wisdom
brings
direction. Did you ever have wisdom come into a situation and totally
change
the outcome of the situation? In verse number twelve, going back to
Samuel
chapter twenty-five, again, thirty-two, I'm sorry, verse thirty-two. 1
Samuel
25:32-35
And David said to
Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
which sent thee this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice, [which is wisdom,
advice] and blessed be thou, which hast
kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself
with mine
own hand. For in very deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which
hath kept
me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet
me, surely
there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that
pisseth
against the wall. So David received of her hand that which she had
brought him,
and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened
to thy
voice, and have accepted thy person. See, wisdom
that comes from God gives direction, gives direction. You ever work so
hard on
something and then just stop and say, “God I need Your help,” and God
just
gives you wisdom, and it just makes it so much easier, the way is so
much
clearer? In Ecclesiastes ten, ten, it talks about how wisdom is
profitable to
direct: Ecclesiastes
10:10
If the iron be
blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he
put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct. Meaning
you're working harder, not smarter. You got to keep beating that sword.
Wisdom
is profitable to direct. Sometimes we're out there working so hard, and
all
we've got to do is just ask God for some wisdom. He already knows. He
knows your
struggle; He knows what you're going through. Sometimes I get so mad
and
frustrated when I'm out there driving, I do, I drive Lyft on the side,
I get
lost somewhere, and the GPS is not getting it, and I just stop and
pray, and I
say, “God, I don't need to be driving with this kind of attitude. I
need some
wisdom on how to get back, and get right, and I go where I need to go.”
And God
makes those crooked paths straight. It gives me good direction. He does
the
same thing in my life. God cares about the everyday needs of you, but
He cares
so much about your soul. The things that you think are right, and
things you
struggle with so much with, that difficult boss you're dealing with,
pray for
wisdom. “What, the boss? You mean I’ve got to pray for wisdom on how to
deal
with my boss?” Oh yes. And, sometimes God will even move the boss.
Sometimes
God will move the boss. But, it's not our place to judge. It's not our
place to
take anger and go and attack that person. For one, we've got a
testimony for
all the other people around us. Yeah, we can justify it in our own
mind. Even as
David was. The angrier he got, the more he was justified in it. Ask God
for
wisdom. Wisdom brings direction. I can
remember, I was overseas as a young man, stationed in the Navy, I was
in Italy,
and I shared with a lot of people. One day, I was just kind of sitting
in this
area where, kind of, people were gathering, just kind of waiting for
different
folks to come in and out, and there was these two people, they looked
like they
were arguing. One was a Muslim, I knew he was a Muslim, and one was
some other
faith, and they were going back arguing back and forth arguing, and,
normally,
I would just kind of leave that situation alone. I don't want to get in
the
middle of that, let them fight it out. If they've got some questions
later,
then I can ask God for wisdom. But, there was a young man that I was
sharing
with, a few weeks earlier that just happened to come and sit down. Now,
this
changes the game. There's a soul at stake here. There's not just these
two
religious people arguing. So here was this Muslim guy that was like on,
“You
said there's three gods, okay, give me your Bible. I will show you in
your
Bible that there's not three gods.” So they were going back and forth.
And the
Muslim looked at me, and he said, “What do you think? I could have
just, you
know, hammered him, but, I said, “God give me some wisdom.” And God
said, “Open
your Bible, and point to that Scripture.” And, the Scripture was, “If
you don't
believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins.” (John 8:24) The
Muslim took
the Bible, closed it, didn't say another word, and left. The other guy
got up
and left, I was able to sit and share some more, and baptized the young
man
that I have been sharing with. But, that doesn't happen unless I wait
for God to
give me some wisdom. If I took it upon myself to go debate with these
guys,
what is their thinking going to be? Just a fool like them. Just another
religious person. Seek God for wisdom on how to share with people, and
be
patient with them. Part
5: Humility Before Honor You see,
sometimes, the harvest, is sometimes the thing that I struggle with the
most. I
got it right, and, no matter what I do—sometimes I've got so much
pride.
Humility comes before honor. Proverbs, fifteen, thirty-three says: Proverbs
15:33 The
fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is
humility. And Fist
Samuel, chapter twenty-five, let's see Abigail's response after all of
this has
taken place 1
Samuel
25:40 And
when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel,
they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to
him to
wife. And listen to
her response: 1
Samuel
25:41 And
she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and
said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the
servants
of my lord. We were
talking a lot about washing feet. And humility. And serving. This was
her first
response. And, this should always be our first response when asked to
do
anything for God. Not just, let me serve, let me help one another, let
me help
those that are in leadership. Let me pray for those that are in
leadership. Let
me take the time, just to do the dirty work. 1
Samuel
25:42 And
Abigail hasted, and arose and rode upon an ass, with five
damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers
of
David, and became his wife. Didn't she
just wash the feet of those that were with her? Later she became Queen.
But she
had to have some real humility for the before the honor. First Peter,
chapter five, Peter writing to the church, and Peter says: 1
Peter 5:1-5 The
elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a
witness of the
sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be
revealed:
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof,
not by
constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
Neither
as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
And when
the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that
fadeth
not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea,
all of
you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God
resisteth
the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Do you want
more grace in your life? You need to go back to humility. Eat some
humble pie,
as they say. Doesn't taste good, does it, humble pie? But it's good for
the
soul. Humble yourselves one to another. “Well, I've been here twenty,
thirty, forty
years, I have a right to lead. I have a right. I have a right to be
chosen.
I've done my time. I've earned my stripes. I demand...” is that
humility? Verse
number six: 1
Peter 5:6
Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt
you in due
time: When the time
is right, God picks his leaders to lead, God picks his leaders to lead. 1
Peter 5:7-8 Casting
all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant;
because
your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may
devour: And, he is
going to devour you with that pride. He's going to take you out with
that pride
if you're not careful. 1
Peter 5:9
Whom
resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are
accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. People in the
world deal with the same hurts and pains we do and in the faith.
Humility comes
before honor. Maybe that's the one thing that's holding you back in
your life, in
your ministry, in your job, in your family. Maybe just being a little
humble
sometimes. Taking some time to listen to your wife who’s trying to give
you
some good wisdom from God. “I don't need to listen to her, I'm the head
of the
household.” And, you'll sure fall on your face. I have. My wife can
talk to you
about that plenty of times. But, when I take the time to listen, when
God
speaks to her, through her to me. And I say, “Okay, God, this is You, I
need to
change direction.” We need to do this, we need to change this, we need
to
change our attitude. And God can use me. And God can use me, my house,
and God
can use me on my job, God can use me anywhere He chooses to. God
doesn't care
how well we can preach, how well we can teach, how many Scriptures we
could
quote—Sometimes we’re so quick to open up the Bible, and we don't have
any
humility. Sometimes we just need to stop and listen to folks and hear
them out.
We're so busy answering their question before they even ask it. Talk it
over. I
have that problem. I have to just stop and shut my mouth sometimes.
Good Lord,
help me. Let's close
with the passage we had as our theme back in March, as whoever's coming
to
close us, after the message, we'll do that soon. John, chapter
thirteen,
starting it verse one: John
13:1-8 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 riseth from supper, and
laid
aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he
poureth
water into a bason, 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. If you have
no humility, and you can't learn humility, you have no part in God. John
13:9-11 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 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 said he, Ye are not all clean. So, Peter
still wasn't getting it. It was a lesson in humility He was trying to
give, but
he was going to get it after. He said, you don't understand this now,
but
you're going to understand this lesson in humility and service later. John
13:12-17 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 your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For 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. That's the
message. Give the Lord the praise.
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