Ex 29:4. Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water. 
	We spent last week looking through the Old Testament in terms of the requirements of the priests to wash themselves as would signify their being cleansed from sin and unrighteousness. They had to do this every single time they were to come before the altar in the fulfillment of their duties for the people before God and from God unto the people. They dared not disregard this requirement because to do so would cause them to be struck down in their unholiness before the Most Holy and Righteous Lord God Almighty. 
What we want to see this morning is what is now true of us in Jesus Christ. This requirement of being completely washed and cleansed was not set aside by God, but has become fully incorporated into who we are now; washed clean forever by the very blood of His Only Begotten Son, the Perfect Lamb Who was slain for our sanctification. We are now made to be priests to our God and Father through Jesus Christ, and as so, we are washed by Him, as we will consider this morning. 
Our first text is John 13:3-20, if you would please open to it in your Bibles. The scene of this reading is what we call the Last Supper where we have the account of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples as He was preparing them before His crucifixion. 
John 13:3-20, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God, rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. And so He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand hereafter." Peter said to Him, "Never shall You 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 has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you." For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, "Not all of you are clean." And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? "You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. "Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. "I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.' "From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me." 
This was, more or less, the ordination of these men into their duties as servants of Christ. They would still need the power of the Promised Holy Spirit in order to fulfill their ministerial responsibilities, but this was their installation into that soon to be rendered service. Jesus was personally ordaining them as servants of all, just as He was the servant of all. He was soon to lay down His life for them and for you and for me. He wanted His friends, His followers, His disciples to know that they were to be of the same heart, washed from all the filth of this age with its self-promotion and self-seeking avarice, and to be cleansed to serve as Christ so fully served both the Father and mankind.  
As we read in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesian Church, in Chapter 5, verses 25-27, this giving completely in service is instilled into the very fabric of Christian life. It is at the core of our relationship one with another. It is integral to the union of husband and wife, just as it is evidenced in our relationship, living relationship with Christ as His church on this earth.. Eph 5:25-27, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. 
	This is the course of marriage, as each spouse fully gives him or herself for the sake of the washing away of all the filth of this realm in the purification and the holiness of the sacred marriage bond. Each marriage in Christ presents to the world the representation of what God has done through the establishment of the union of the Church into her relationship with His Only Begotten Son. Each bond of love in Christ requires the washing away of all that is self-seeking, lusting after anything other than the plan and purpose of God in that union in Christ.
	That is why marriage is such a focal point of this age’s attacks and besmirchment. That is why the family faces such violent tearing and ridicule and assaults from every direction in this modern time of so-called enlightenment. We present, as we give ourselves holy unto God and unto each other, the antithesis of what this world craves with all its vile and depraved lusts and self-seeking whoredom and idolatry. This world promotes everything that will wrench our thoughts and hearts from the purity and the holiness of God. It seeks to mire down its captives in the disgusting and muck and refuse of its lies and treachery to be as God. 
In Titus 3:3-7, the Apostle Paul addresses this for the whole church in the manner in which we are to consider our service unto God and unto each other. Titus 3:3-7, For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 
    	We were once all subject to the slavery and the filth of this age, held captive in our wicked and evil passions, being the god of our existence. We viewed everything and everyone in the arena of how it benefited our interests and our ambitions and our aspirations after our own self-promotion. Then God, in Christ Jesus, washed us clean in order to become the priests who would serve Him and serve others with lives that evidence the fulfillment of His Heart of Love and Grace. He accomplished this miraculous cleansing of us in order to make known the full impact of what He did in the giving of His Son, Our Perfect and Eternal High Priest. 
This is delineated for us by the Writer to the Hebrews, in Heb 7:11-28,  in the description of the difference between the Levitical priesthood and the priesthood inaugurated by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Please turn in your Bibles to Heb 7:11-28. Heb 7:11-28, Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of Him, "Thou art a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek." For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. And inasmuch as it was not without an oath (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him, "The Lord has sworn And will not change His mind, 'Thou art a priest forever'"); so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from continuing, but He, on the other hand, because He abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever. 
	The full impact of the perfection of the priesthood of Jesus will never be exhausted by the eternal ages of ages. Yet, the main reality of it, at the heart of our current consideration is announced in the Writer’s continuation in Hebrews Chapter 10, verses 19-25. Whereas the priestly order of Aaron was limited in the manner in which they could come into the very presence of God, in Christ, washed clean by His blood, we have immediate and eternal access to the throne of God’s grace and mercy and love. Heb 10:19-25, Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. 
	The Apostle Peter also highlights the incomparable superiority of Christ’s priesthood for us in 1 Peter 3:18-22, highlighting the fact of His eternal Lordship. 1 Peter 3:18-22, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you —  not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience —  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him. 
	We will finish this morning with two passages from the Revelation of Jesus Christ as John details what all will see in the glory of God to be revealed by the effective work of our being made to be the very priests of God, washed clean forever by the blood of the Lamb. 
The first is Rev 1:4-6. Rev 1:4-6, John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 
    	And finally, in Rev 5:6-10, Rev 5:6-10. And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came, and He took it out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. "And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." 
Let us never forget that we have been purchased unto the service of God with a price that is incalculable. We are called and ordained to minister to God in the every manner as priests for His sake and for the sake of one another. We serve Him, washed by Jesus Himself, just as He washed the feet of His disciples, forever clean and holy in the sight of God, with ready access to His throne at all times in Jesus Christ. This is something that we dare never forget or take for granted, but for all of eternity we will give Him praise and adoration and glory and thanksgiving. So be it!
Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 145:3+4. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Thy works to another, And shall declare Thy mighty acts. Amen.