The Unknown Ways of Love

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 14, 1876,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do you know not now; but you
shall know hereafter." John 13:7.

THESE words of our Lord were spoken in answer to Peter's exclamation of
surprise, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" It was a very natural expression
of astonishment and one which deserved no censure, but, at the same
time it was not a very wise remark, for, although it was a marvelously
condescending act for the Lord Jesus to wash His disciples' feet, He
had already performed a greater condescension by coming upon the earth,
at all, in the form of a man. For the Son of the Highest to dwell among
mortals in a human body, capable of being girt about with a towel and
able to take a basin and pour water into it, is a far greater marvel
than that He should, being a Man, leave the supper table and act as a
menial servant by washing His disciples' feet.

Had Peter understood what his Master had prophesied and explained to
him, namely, the Lord's approaching sufferings and death, he would have
seen that for his Master to take a towel and basin was little compared
with His having our iniquities laid upon Himself and being made a
Sacrifice for sin! It surprises you much to see the Lord of Glory wear
a towel–does it not amaze you, still more, to see Him clad in the
purple robe of mockery? Are you not still more astonished to see His
clothes stripped from Him and to hear Him cry upon the Cross, "I can
see all My bones: they look and stare upon Me"?

It is amazing that He should take the basin in the upper room, but
surely it was more extraordinary that He should take the cup in the
garden and drink in its full bitterness till He sweat, as it were,
great drops of blood falling to the ground! To wash the disciples' feet
with water was certainly a surprising action, but to pour out His
heart's blood to wash us all was by far the greater, for this involved
His death, His making His grave with the wicked and His being numbered
with the transgressors! The expression of Peter is thus seen to be very
natural, but not very profound.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, do you not think it very likely that our
pretty pious speeches which strike us as very proper, seem, to our
friends, to be very commendable, will, one of these days, appear to be
mere baby prattling and do even now appear so to the Lord Jesus? Those
choice sayings and holy sentences which we have read with admiration
and greatly valued–even those are not like the Words of Jesus for
solid intrinsic weight and worth but may, in other lights, appear far
less beautiful than they do now. I have, myself, proved in different
humors and frames of mind that the very things which struck me as being
so very deep and gracious have at other times appeared to be one-sided,
shallow, or questionable. We know in part and prophesy in part–our
highest attainments, here, are those of little children, and even for
the close student–the deeply experienced Christian, the venerable man
of years and the graciously anointed instructor of the Churches, there
is no room for boasting.

Note, next, that our Savior answered Peter's speech in the words of the
text which are as admirable for their tone as for their matter. Which
should we admire the more in this reply, its meekness or its majesty?
To Peter's ignorant simplicity how gentle He is! "What I do you know
not now; but you shall know hereafter." And yet how royally He
confronts Peter's objection and how distinctly His majestic Personality
puts down the too conspicuous individuality of Peter! "What I do you
know not now."

How perfect the blending of the majesty and the meekness! Who shall
tell which of the colors is better laid on? This is always the way of
our Lord Jesus! You shall find, through life, Beloved, that whenever
Jesus Christ comes to rebuke you, He will do so powerfully but gently.
He will speak as a Friend and as a King. You will feel both His love
and His authority and acknowledge the power of both His goodness and
His greatness. His smile shall not make you presume, nor shall His
royal glance cause you to tremble. You will find His left hand
supporting you while in His right you see His imperial

scepter. Blessed Savior, are You more meek or more majestic? We cannot
tell, but certainly to our hearts You are both kind and kingly, sweet
and sovereign, gracious and glorious!

I. Let us now come to the words themselves. We have looked at the
occasion of them and at the manner of them. We will now weigh their
matter. The words, themselves, have suggested to me many thoughts and
among them, first, that IN OUR LORD'S DOINGS THERE IS MUCH WHICH WE
CANNOT UNDERSTAND. Our text is not merely true about the washing of the
feet, but it is true concerning all that our Lord does–"What I do you
know not now." We may know the external part of what He does, or think
we do, but there is more in His actions than any of us can conceive.
The external is not all–there are wrapped up, within, other mercies
which we perceive and yet greater mercies as yet unknown to us.

You traverse the soil of Canaan, drink of its rivers and are refreshed
by its corn and wine and oil, but the goodly land has hidden
riches–its stones are iron and out of its hills you may dig brass. The
brooks of which you drink derive their coolest waters from springs
which have tapped "the deep which lies under." If you know, in some
measure, what Jesus does, the whole mystery is not altogether laid bare
to your eyes. There are folds of His manifold Grace which, as yet, are
unopened. The work of Jesus is beyond you–it is lower than your fall,
higher than your desire–it surpasses you and is altogether too high
for you! You simply cannot attain to its measurement. Who can, by
searching, find it out unto perfection? Our lack of knowledge of the
Divine doings is a wide subject and I shall not attempt to explore its
boundaries, but shall restrain myself by the text.

Brothers and Sisters, there are many things that God does which we
cannot understand, now, and probably never shall. For instance, why did
He permit evil, at first, and still tolerates it? To this enquiry the
Divine answer would be "What I do you know not." Leave that alone! It
is our highest wisdom to be ignorant where God has not enlightened us.
It is great folly to pretend to know when we do not–there lives not a
man, nor ever will live a man–who has even an approximation to an
understanding of the dread mystery of the existence of moral evil! The
bottom of this abyss no mind can reach! He is foolhardy who ventures on
the plunge. Let this dread secret alone! You cannot endure the white
heat which burns around it!

Many a man has lost the eyes of his reason while trying to peer into
this fiery furnace. What have you to do with that which God conceals
from you? It is God's business, not yours! The thing was done before
you were born and He who permitted it can answer for Himself if He
cares to do so. And, with regard to predestination–that God ordains
all things and has before His eyes the chart of everything that has
been, is, or shall be–is most true! But who knows the depths of
foreknowledge and destiny? To sit down and pluck the eternal purposes
to pieces, to question their justice and impugn their wisdom is both
folly and audacity!

Here the darkness thickens and out of it comes forth the
proclamation–"What I do you know not." The things which are revealed
belong to us and to our children–but as to the unrevealed, if it is to
the Glory of God to conceal a thing, let it be concealed! Jesus has
torn the veil of the Holy Place and into the secret of Divine love you
may now freely enter. But other veils, which He tears not, you may not
touch. Some Truths of God are closed up from our understanding, even as
the Ark of the Covenant was shut against prying eyes. Let us not
violate their sanctity lest we meet the doom of the men of Bethshemesh,
but let us zealously guard them as priceless treasures that we may
obtain the blessing which rested upon the house of Obededom.

The same remark applies to the great designs of God in Providence. He
is pleased, in prophecy, to tell us what He has meant by His Providence
and, perhaps, it will be one of the enjoyments of the future state to
see the hand of God in the whole current of history. But while
incidents are occurring, we must not expect to understand their drift
and bearing. The wonderful tapestry of human history, all woven in the
loom of God's infinite wisdom, will astonish both men and angels when
it is complete! But while it is yet unfinished, it will not be possible
for us to imagine the completed pattern. From between those wheels of
Providence, which are full of eyes, I hear a voice which said, "What I
do you know not now."

So we will confine ourselves to the loving acts of the Lord Jesus
Christ, since what the Lord was doing with Peter was not very
mysterious, nor a deed of transcendent power, nor of stern justice. He
was humbly girding Himself with a towel and pouring water into a basin
to wash his followers' feet. It was a very simple matter and evidently
a very gracious, kind and condescending act. And yet, even concerning
that, Jesus said, "What I do you know not now." My

Brothers and Sisters, even the acts of our Lord Jesus Christ in His
loving condescension we do not fully understand. Ah, think a
minute–how can we? Does not our Lord's love always surpass our
knowledge, since He, Himself, is the greatest of all mysteries? Let me
read these words to you–"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all
things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God;
He arose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel,
and girded Himself."

Do you understand the higher and the lower points of this transaction?
You must comprehend them both before you can see what He has done.
"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands."
Can you see the glory of this? Jesus, our Lord, was conscious that His
Father had made Him Head over all things to His Church and that He had
laid the government upon His shoulders and given Him the key of David
that He might open and no man shut, and shut and no man open. He knew,
assuredly, that at His belt swung the keys of Heaven, death and
Hell–and that having fulfilled the commission of the Eternal God, He
was about to return to His Throne.

Have you grasped the idea? Do you perceive the Glory of which Jesus was
conscious? If you have done so, then descend by one long sweep–He,
this Lord of All, having all things in His hands, takes off His
garments, foregoes the common dress of an ordinary man, and places
Himself in the undress of a servant! He wears a towel that He may wait
upon His own disciples! Can you follow Him from such a height to such a
depth? A superior in the East never washes an inferior's feet–Christ
acts as if He were inferior to His friends! He acts as if He were
inferior to those poor fishermen– those foolish scholars who learned
so slowly and with whom He had spent so much time and yet they did not
know Him–those 12 men who soon forgot what they knew and needed Him to
explain, again and again, line upon line and precept upon precept!
Having loved them to the end, He stoops to the extreme of stooping and
bows at their feet to cleanse their defilement! Who, I say, can compute
the depth of this descent?

You cannot know what Christ has done for you because you cannot
conceive how high He is by Nature! Neither can you guess how low He
stooped in His humiliation and death. With an eagle's wing you could
not soar so high as to behold Him as God over all, blessed forever,
sitting at the right hand of the Father, the adored of cherubim and
seraphim! Nor could you dive, even if you dared to take a plunge into
the abyss, until you reached the depth of, "My God, My God, why have
You forsaken Me!" And yet, you must somehow know the interval–I was
about to say, "the infinity"– between these two points of height and
depth before you can know what Jesus has done for you!

Moreover, think awhile. Was anything that Jesus did understood while He
was doing it? He is born a Babe in Bethlehem, but who knew what He did
in the manger? A few shepherds and two or three favored saints
discerned the Savior in the Babe, but to the mass of mankind He was
unknown. God came on earth and angels sung His advent, but O Earth,
your Lord might have said to you, "What I do you know not now"! He
lived here the life of a carpenter's son–that life was the most august
event in all human history–but men knew not what it was or what it
meant! "The world knew Him

not."

He came forward to preach the Gospel–did they know who it was that
spoke as never man spoke? Did they comprehend what He spoke? Ah, no. He
was hid from their eyes! At last He laid aside the life He had so
strangely taken–who knew the reason of His death upon the Cross? Did
even His disciples know, though He had told them? When the earth shook
and graves were opened by His last cry, did even His own followers
understand what a Sacrifice had been offered? No, and until the Spirit
was poured upon them from on high they did not comprehend that it
behooved Christ to suffer. He could say to each of His own disciples,
of all that He had done, "What I do you know not now."

This is true, too, of every separate gift which our Lord's love has
given to His people. You have been justified in Jesus Christ, but do
you fully know the wondrous righteousness with which Justification by
Faith has endowed you? You are accepted in the Beloved, but did any one
of you ever realize what it is to have full acceptance with the Father?
I know you have realized the fact and rejoiced in it, but have you
known, yes, can you know the full sweetness of its meaning? You are one
with Christ and members of His body! Do you comprehend that? You are
joint heirs with Christ! Do you know the full significance of that?

He is betrothed to you in an everlasting marriage! Do you know what
that means? Ah no, these wonders of His love, we hear of them and we
believe them, but, "What I do," He said, "you know not now." Our Lord
is doing great things by way of preparing us for a higher state of
existence! We shall soon be rid of this vile body and be released from
this narrow world–we are going to a sphere more suited for our
Heaven-born life where we shall be the comrades of angels and

commune with the spirits of the just made perfect–and serve the Lord
day and night in His temple. But what Glory shall be, we do not know,
for the ear has not heard it, nor the eye beheld it, nor the heart
conceived it. As for the preparations which are going on within us to
make us ready for this sublime condition, we know that they are being
carried on, but we cannot, as yet, see their course, their separate
tendencies and their ultimate issues.

The instrument does not comprehend the tuner. The tuner fetches harsh
sounds from those disordered strings, but all those jarring notes are
necessary to the harmonious condition which he is aiming to produce. If
the discords were not discovered, the music of the future would be
marred. My Brothers and Sisters, concerning all that Christ has done it
is true, "What I do you know not now." Oh, if His work were little, we
could measure it! If His love were scanty, we could know it! If His
wisdom were finite we could judge it! But, where everything is past
finding out, who can pretend to know?

Remember, that in our salvation Christ, Himself, is the sum and
substance. In it every attribute of His Divinity is brought into
exercise to the fullest. He makes it His Glory, counting our salvation
to be His coronet and crown jewels and, therefore, it is not at all
marvelous that we should not know what He does.

II. Our second thought is a sweet one. OUR LACK OF UNDERSTANDING DOES
NOT PREVENT THE EFFICACY OF OUR LORD'S WORK. "What I do you know not
now." Peter does not know what Christ is doing when He washes his feet,
but the Master washes them just as clean whether Peter understands it
or not. Jesus did not say, "There, Peter, you do not understand what I
am doing by washing your feet, and so I shall not wash them until you
do." No, no. He moves on with the basin and towel and washes them
clean, though Peter does not know why.

Is not this a great mercy, Brothers and Sisters, that the blessings
which Christ bestows upon us are not dependent for their efficacy upon
our capacity to understand them? Just look out a little in the world
and see how true this is. A mother has her little child on her lap and
she is washing its face. The child does not like the water and it
cries. Ah, Babe, if you could understand it, you would smile! The child
cries and struggles in the mother's arms, but it is washed all the
same– the mother waits not for the child to know what she is doing,
but completes her work of love. So is the Lord often exercising Divine
acts upon us and we do not appreciate them, neither are we pleased.
Perhaps we even strive against His work of love, but for all that, He
perseveres and turns not away His hand because of our crying.

Does the tree understand pruning? Does the land comprehend plowing? Yet
pruning and plowing produce their good results. The physician stands at
the bedside of the patient and gives him medicine, medicine which is
unpalatable and which, in its operation, causes the patient to feel
worse than he was before. The sufferer cannot understand this and,
therefore, he draws unhappy conclusions. But the power of the medicine
does not depend upon the patient's understanding its qualities and,
therefore, it will do him good, though it puzzles him by its strange
manner of working. If a fool eats his dinner, it will satisfy his
hunger as much as if he were a philosopher and understood the processes
of digestion. This is a great mercy, for the most of men can never
become philosophers!

It is not necessary for a man to be learned in the nature of combustion
in order to be warmed by a fire. A man may be ignorant of the laws of
light and yet be able to see. He may know nothing of acoustics and yet
be quick of hearing. A passenger who does not know a valve from a
wheel, enters a carriage at the station and he will be drawn to his
journey's end by the engine as well as if he were learned in mechanics.
It is the same in the spiritual as in the natural world. The efficacy
of spiritual forces does not depend upon our capacity to understand
them.

I have mentioned this very simple fact because it really is necessary
for us to remember it. We are so knowing, or think we are–we think it
so essential that we should form a judgment of what the Lord is doing.
Ah, dear Brothers and Sisters, there are more essential things than
this! It is better to trust, to submit, to obey, to love, than to know.
Let the Lord alone! He is doing rightly enough, be sure of that. Is He
to be questioned and questioned again by us? Are we to judge His
judgment? Dare we demand answers to our impertinent enquiries and say,
why this and why that, and why the other? Were He a God if He would
submit to such examination? If we call ourselves His disciples, how can
we justify a spirit which would arraign our Lord? Be still and know
that He is God!

What more would you know? Remember that the things which you understand
are for your good, but they can only bring you a small amount of
benefit because they must be, in themselves, small, or you would not be
able to measure them. When a great, deep good is coming to you, you
will not be able to comprehend it, for your comprehension is narrow.
Yet it will be none the less but all the more a blessing because you
know it not! Joseph is gone and here is his bloody

coat! "Without doubt he is torn in pieces! All these things are against
me! Ah, how my heart is broken with the loss of my darling child. I
cannot understand it. It cannot be right."

So talks poor Jacob, but it was right, all the same for that! Joseph
was on the sure road to Pharaoh's throne and to providing for his
brethren in the land of Egypt. So it is with you, my Brothers and
Sisters, under your present trial and affliction. You cannot understand
it now, but that does not make a pennyworth of difference! It is
working out for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!
Be content to let faith rule and knowledge wait–and what you know not
now you shall know hereafter.

III. A third thought is that OUR NOT BEING ABLE TO KNOW WHAT THE LORD
DOES SHOULD NEVER

SHAKE OUR CONFIDENCE IN HIM. I hope, dear Brothers and Sisters, our
faith in Christ does not rest upon our capacity to understand what He
does! If so, I fear it is not faith at all, but a mere exercise of
self-conceited carnal reason. Some things which the Lord has done bear
upon their very forefront the impression of His infinite love, but I
hope you know enough of Him, now, to be able to believe that where
there are no traces of love apparent to you, His love is as surely
there. I rejoice in that part of my text which runs thus, "What I do."
This washing of the feet was not being done by Bartholomew, or
Nathanael–it was the personal act of the Lord, Himself.

Now, when the Master and Lord is doing it, who needs to raise a
question or to suggest enquiry? It must be right if He does it–to
question His conduct would be an insult to His majestic love. Do you
know Christ? Then you know the Character of His deeds. Do you know your
Lord? Then you are sure that He will never act unkindly, unbecomingly,
or unwisely. He can never send a needless sorrow, or wantonly cause a
tear to flow. Can He? Here, then, is the question– not, "Why is it
done?–but, "Who is doing it? And if the Lord is doing it, we can have
no doubt about the excellence of His design. We believe that He is
right when we cannot see that He is so. If we do not trust Him far
beyond what we know, it will show that our confidence in Him is very
limited.

When a person only obeys another because he chooses to obey and sees it
a proper thing to do, he has not the spirit of implicit obedience at
all. And when a person only confides in another as far as he can see
that he is safe, he is a stranger to implicit confidence. Confidence
has its sphere beyond the boundaries of knowledge. Where judgment
ceases, faith begins. "What I do you know not now." Ah, You most
beloved of our souls, You spoke the Truth in that, but we can reply to
You that we know and are sure that what You do is supremely good.

IV. Fourthly, OUR LACK OF UNDERSTANDING AS TO WHAT OUR LORD DOES
GENERALLY SHOWS ITSELF MOST IN DEFERENCE TO HIS PERSONAL DEALINGS WITH
OURSELVES. "What I do you know not

now" refers to His washing Peter's feet. Brothers and Sisters, if there
is anything which we are not likely to understand thoroughly well, it
is that which has to do with ourselves. We are too close home to see
clearly. In this case the looker-on sees more than the player. We
generally form a better opinion of the character, position and needs of
another than we do concerning ourselves.

It is said of Moses' face that everyone saw it shine but one man–and
that was Moses–for he could not see his own countenance. So, also, if
a man's face is black, it is black to everybody but himself–he does
not see his own spots. We cannot form accurate estimates of ourselves
and so we must not expect, when Christ is personally dealing with us,
that we should be able to understand what He does to us. Besides, if
the Lord is dealing with us in an afflicting way, we are generally in
an unfavorable state of mind for forming any judgment at all, being, as
a rule, too disturbed in mind by the affliction, itself.

When a hospital patient is under the knife, he is a poor judge of the
necessity of the operation or the skill of the surgeon. Later, when the
wound has healed, he will judge better than he can do when the knife is
just cutting through nerve, and sinew and bone. Judge nothing before
the time! You are not in a condition to judge and therefore do not
attempt it. When you are smarting under the rod, your opinions,
estimates and forecasts are about as much to be depended upon as the
whistling of the wind or the dashing of the waves. Cease from judging,
calculating and foreboding–believe that He who ordains our lot orders
all things in kindness and wisdom!

I do not wonder that Peter was puzzled and could not understand his
Lord's procedure, for it is always a hard thing for an active and
energetic mind to see the wisdom of being compelled to do nothing. Here
is a man who can drag a net to the shore full of big fishes and,
instead of using his strength, he is made to sit still and do nothing!
Peter, the hardy, vigorous worker, must sit down like a gentleman, or a
cripple, and do nothing. He does not understand. He has been very

useful and he thinks he could be useful now. He could, at any rate,
wait at the table, or carry the basin, or wash his fellows' feet if it
must be done. But he is bound to sit still and do nothing and he does
not understand it.

Brothers and Sisters, the hardest work a man has to do, who wants to
serve the Lord Jesus, is to stand aside in forced inactivity and take
no share in what is going on! It is hard to be put on the shelf among
the cracked crockery and to be of no more use than a broken vessel
while yet you feel you could be useful if you had but strength to leave
your chamber. The proud idea that you have been wonderfully useful
tempts you to repine at being laid among the lumber! And you feel it to
be a very mysterious business altogether.

Then, what is worse, not only can Peter not do anything, he is a
receiver from others and must be waited on by them, and chiefly by his
Master, whom he, at other times, loved to serve! To have his feet
washed must have appeared, to a hardy fisherman like Peter, a strange
luxury. He would say, "Cannot I do it myself? I am not used to be
waited on." To sit there and, while doing nothing, to be also
engrossing the care of another, must have been a unusual position to
him. It is very unpleasant for an active man to be unable to work and
to be dependent upon others for every little detail and necessity of
life. To borrow other people's strength and tax other people's care is
not desirable.

To stand in need of anxious prayers and to awake pitying thoughts,
seems strange to those who have been accustomed to do rather than to
suffer. "Why," you seem to say, "I have prayed for them. I have worked
for them! Are they, now, to pray and work for me? I have fed the sheep.
Are the sheep going to feed me? I have washed the saints' feet. Are
they going to wash mine? Am I to be dependent upon others and not be
able to lend a hand or lift a finger"? Ah, well, we must not ask
questions, but we are very apt to do so. We do not know, and we become
inquisitive, but the Savior says, "What I do you know not now."

All the while there is very prominent in our minds a sense of
insignificance and unworthiness which makes our receipt of favors the
more perplexing. "What?" asks Peter, "I, unworthy Peter, shall I be
washed by the Lord Jesus Christ"? So it seems to us unworthy sinners,
"Why should God's people be thinking about me and careful about me? Why
has the Lord, Himself, deigned to make my bed in my sickness? Why has
His blessed Spirit condescended to be my Comforter, applying precious
promises to me? Why all this to me?" We do not comprehend it. We are
lost in wonder and it is no marvel that we are. Yet, dear Brothers and
Sisters, if our eyes are opened, the Lord's afflicting dealings are not
so wonderfully mysterious, after all, for we need purging and cleansing
even as Peter needed his feet washed.

We greatly need the sacred purging of Jesus' love for the removal of
daily defilement. Sometimes trials in business, sad bereavements, acts
of ingratitude, pains of sickness, or depressions of spirit are just
the basin and the water and the towel in which our Lord is washing our
feet. We are clean through the blood of Jesus, but the daily cleansing
we still need. It is a wonder that some of us are ever out of the
furnace, for our dross is so abundant. I shall not be surprised if I
find myself often under the flail, for the straw and the chaff are
plentiful in me. Some metals are so apt to rust that it is no wonder
that they are often burnished. Some soils need a deal of plowing–they
are very apt to cake and grow hard–and therefore must be broken up.

So it is with us. There is a need for what the Lord is doing. In
Peter's case there was a need of fellowship, for our Lord said, "If I
wash you not you have no part with Me." You cannot have fellowship with
Christ unless He does this or that for you. No, especially unless He
tries you, for how shall you know the suffering Savior unless you
suffer, yourself? Communion with the afflicted Redeemer is promoted by
our personal afflictions. There was a need, yet again, for Peter and
the rest to learn the lesson of washing their Brothers' feet by seeing
the Lord wash theirs. No man can rightly wash another's feet till his
own feet have been washed by his Savior.

It is, in the kingdom of Christ, a law that there must be experience
before there can be expertness. You must be comforted or you can not
comfort. You must find mercy, yourself, or you can not lead others in
the search. You must be washed or you cannot wash. Thus there were good
reasons for our Lord's act, but they were not seen by Peter, nor do the
motives for our Lord's dispensations towards us always appear upon the
surface. When Jesus, Himself, is dealing with us, especially if it is
in a way of trial, we do not understand it and He has need to say,
"What I do you know not now."

V. Our last thought for the present is–UPON THIS POINT AND UPON MANY
OTHERS WE SHALL, ONE DAY, BE INFORMED. "What I do you know not now, but
you shall know hereafter." That, "hereafter," may be very soon. Peter
knew within a few minutes what Jesus meant, for He said to him, "Know
you what I have done unto you? If I, your Lord and Master, have washed
your feet, you ought, also, to wash one another's feet." Thus the light
was not long

in breaking. Why are you in such a hurry, when you are in trouble, to
begin spelling out an evil reason for God's dealings, when, if you will
but wait, you shall know the right reason in a short time?

A child is in an ill temper because there has been a rule made by the
father and not explained. And so it sits down and sulks and thinks of
some unkind, ungenerous motive on the father's part. In a minute or
two, after it understands it all and has to eat its own words, it
confesses, "How bad of me to impute such unkindness to my dear loving
father, who is always seeking my good." If you will get reasoning in
haste about your Lord's dispensations, you will have to take all your
reasoning back and you will have to afflict your soul for being so
hasty. Therefore wait awhile, for, "you shall know hereafter," and
that, "hereafter," may be very near.

Peter understood his Master's washing his feet better, after his sad
fall and threefold denial. I should not wonder that when the Lord
turned and looked upon Peter–and he went out and wept bitterly–the
penitent disciple said to himself, "Now I begin to see why my Lord
washed my feet." When he perceived how badly he needed washing, he
would prize the token which his Lord had given him. He saw his own
frailties and imperfections as he had not seen them before, for he had
said, "Though all men should be offended, yet will I never be
offended," but after his sad denial he knew himself to be as apt to err
as the rest of the Brothers.

At a certain point of your experience you will possibly discover the
explanation of your present adversity. After the Lord had met with
Peter at the sea and had said to him, "Feed My sheep," and, "Feed My
lambs," another method of explanation was open to him. When Peter began
to be a pastor and to deal with the souls of others, he would clearly
see why his Master washed his feet, for he would find that he had much
to do of the same kind of service. Often does our work for Jesus unfold
the work of Jesus and we know our Lord by being called to follow in His
footsteps. Yonder in Heaven, best of all, Peter understands why the
Master washed his feet and surely, sometimes, Peter must inwardly smile
to think of what he once thought and said.

Peter sings amid the heavenly throng, "Unto Him that loved us and
washed us from our sins in His own blood." And then he thinks to
himself, "In my folly, in the days of my flesh, I said unto Him, 'You
shall never wash my feet.' I loved Him when I said it, but what
monstrous folly lay in my speech!" Ah, he understands it, now, and we
shall understand as he does, soon! All things will be clear when we
once pass into the region of Light. I anticipate the blessed
confidences of Heaven! How blessed will be those familiar Revelations
of mysteries so long obscure! What sweet communications there will be
between God and His people in the world to come! I look forward to the
time when we shall see the knots untied and the riddles all
explained–then shall we see the good of apparent evil–and the life
which lay in the bosom of death.

Could we hear the stories of pilgrims who have reached Home, they would
run like this–"I was traveling a pleasant road, blessing God for so
delightful a pilgrimage, but suddenly a huge rock fell across my path
and I had, with regret, to turn back and traverse a more rugged road. I
never understood why until I came home to Heaven and now He tells me,
'Child, there was a precipice but a little way in front and you would
have been dashed to pieces and, therefore, I blocked up your way.'"

Another who has reached the desired haven will tell us, "The vessel in
which I sailed was wrecked. She struck upon a rock and on a broken
fragment of her timbers I swam to shore. I could never comprehend the
reason for this calamity till now. now I learn that the ship was being
steered by evil hands to a shore where I would have been made a slave
and kept in lifelong captivity, and there was no way of deliverance but
by dashing the boat to shivers and landing her passengers where they
would be free."

Brothers and Sisters, you will bless God in Heaven more for your
sorrows than your joys! When you once ascend the celestial hills you
will see that the best blessings came to you in the roughest garments.
Your pearls were found in oyster shells and your jewels were brought
out of Egypt. Sickness, trial, adversity, bereavement and pain have
been more truly angels of God to you than your wealth, your health,
your strength, your comfort–infinitely more so than your laughter and
your ease! O Brothers and Sisters, we shall know hereafter! Well, as we
shall know hereafter, we may leave the knowing till then–and give all
our attention, now, to obeying and trusting!

I have done when I have added a warning to those out of Christ. There
are some in this congregation who do not know my Lord. I have been much
exercised in my mind about you while I have been confined to my chamber
and unable to address you. And my prayer has been that the Holy Spirit
would bless to your conversion the messages of my Brothers who have
kindly occupied this pulpit. If you still remain unconverted, I would
like to say to you that you do not know

what God has been doing with you and you do not know what He is doing
with you now–but you will know hereafter. You have Sabbath days, but
you do not know their value–you will value them differently,
by-and-by, when you lie dy-ing–and especially when you are called
before the Judgment Seat of God!

You have your Bible and you neglect it–you do not know that God has
sent a love letter to you in that form–you will know it when you stand
before His awful bar! Some of you have been pleaded with very often and
earnestly entreated to lay hold on eternal life–and the Lord has
backed up our entreaties by sending sickness to you and personal
trouble. Well, you have not known much about it and you have not wished
to know–but you will have to know hereafter! If you die without
Christ, you will wake up in eternity and cry, "Ah me, that ever the
Lord should call me and I refuse! That He should stretch out His hand
and I should disregard." In Hell it will be an awful discovery, "I was
the subject of Gospel invitations, I was the object of earnest
entreaties, but I continued in my sin and here I am, eternally lost!"

What I earnestly desire should happen would be that you should, this
morning, find out what the Lord has done for you and should understand
it and should open your eyes and say, "Here am I, a man who has lived
long in sin and I have been spared on purpose that God might save me
before I die." Or perhaps it will take this form–"Here I am, a young
man, and I came in here this morning with no precise motive, little
knowing what God was about to do with me. But I know it now. He has
brought me here that I may, this morning, believe in Jesus and give my
heart to Him!"

O hearers of the Gospel, if you once come to know what God has really
done with you and for you, you will hardly forgive yourselves for your
conduct towards Him! You will say, "Did He really love me so and redeem
me with such a price? And have I been so unkind and thoughtless towards
Him?" You will upbraid yourselves and chasten yourselves and grieve to
think you should have treated so good a Friend so terribly! O may the
Divine Spirit, this morning, open your eyes to know what the Lord Jesus
does for you and His Grace shall be magnified in you! Amen and amen!

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–John 13:1-17. HYMNS FROM "OUR
OWN HYMN BOOK"–327, 689, 778.

MR. SPURGEON requests his friends to unite with him in thanking the
ever-merciful Father for permitting him, again, to leave the bed of
sickness and preach the Word to the great congregation. He also
entreats his kind readers to pray for him whenever the sermons are
useful to themselves, for the preacher growingly needs to be upheld by
Grace in answer to the supplications of the Lord's people. Pray that
affliction may be sanctified, physical strength given to preach the
Gospel and, above all, the unction of the Holy Spirit to make the Word
effectual in the heart of saints and sinners.
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The Anchor