Humility Brings to Bear Powerful Healing for the Christian

You can see it in this specimen. Mr. Randy Bell Center. Brethren, today I've used the Life Application Commentary, the Sermon Bible, and the Preachers Outline and Sermon Bible Commentary in preparation for the message. On Passover evening, which this year will be Thursday, April 5th, we'll be participating in a foot-washing ceremony. As you are well aware in that ceremony, one man will pair up with another man, one woman with another woman, and the whole congregation will do this, and we wash one another's feet.

It's a very simple act. It only takes a few minutes. But Jesus Christ says this is a very important service for us to render because it teaches us valuable lessons. We know that in ancient times, it was one of the lowliest jobs to wash somebody's feet. However, as you and I take a look at the foot-washing ceremony, we want to ask a question. Is this the only lesson we are to learn from the foot-washing?

That we are to become lowly servants to one another. Is that the only lesson God wants us to learn from that portion of the ceremony? A couple of weeks ago, I sat down with paper and pencil, and I was thinking about the upcoming Sabbaths prior to the Holy Days. I was thinking about the Holy Days themselves. In the two- or three-day period, I outlined six sermons. I want to give one each representing each of the three aspects of the Passover. Today, we're going to concentrate on humility. We're going to take a look at that subject. We're going to have another sermon that's going to deal with the wine, another that will deal with the bread.

All of these, as I was thinking about these in preparation for the Passover, I want each of these sermons to be very positive. I know that over the years, sometimes we've done so much with the negative self-examination that people can reflect upon Passover as this drudgery, this time of the year that is like the Batan death march or something. That's just really awful. What I want to concentrate on this year is the fact that the Passover is a tremendous blessing.

Each aspect of the Passover is a tremendous blessing for each and every one of you. There is a blessing, I believe, we're going to talk about this today, in humility, that maybe we've not really thought much on in the past. There's a blessing to the bread. There's a blessing to the wine. So we're going to look at those, and then of course on the two high days, that same theme, a positive theme, will continue on. But as we look at this idea of humility today, again I ask the question, is there something about humility that has not gotten our full attention?

I want to give you the theme for today, and it's this. The theme or the purpose statement is this. Humility brings to bear powerful healing for the Christian. Humility brings to bear powerful healing for the Christian. Have you ever thought about humility bringing you healing? In what way does humility bring healing? It's a very positive thing. It's a wonderful blessing that we have. We should concentrate on and think about it at this time of the year, and for that matter at all times of the year.

Now in connection with this, I'm going to quote one of your Scripture cards. When you get your Scripture cards, this will be one of the 125. Let's go to 2 Chronicles 7. This is one of the great Passover Scriptures in all of the Bible. There it is in Chronicles.

Some books that we think, well, we don't read that too much. But I've always viewed this particular verse, 2 Chronicles 7.14, as just a very powerful verse. It's chock full of beautiful meaning. Very powerful meaning. 2 Chronicles 7.14. If my people, that's us, right?

If my people who are called by my name, well, we're in God's church. We call ourselves Christians. We would dare say we are called by His name. If we will humble ourselves and pray and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways. Spontaneous there for a moment. We humble ourselves.

Obviously, that's something we think about from Passover time. We pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. That's something we think about during Unleavened Bread, isn't it? So here you've got a Scripture that encompasses the deep meaning of Passover in the days of Unleavened Bread. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and notice here humility is a big key. If they'll humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways.

Then I will hear from Heaven. I will forgive their sin. Passover meaning. And heal their land. Excuse me. Notice there's a connection here between humility and healing. Humility and healing. My theme for today, as I've said, is that humility brings to bear powerful healing for the Christian. How so? Point number one. Let's get into the details. Number one. Humility brings about the healing powers of rest. Are you under stress?

There's plenty of people in this world who make a very, very good living because of other human beings in stress. There's a young lady who's taken the spotlight on the evening news, Sandra Flock.

You may have seen this story. It's an interesting story. But part of the byline of this story behind the scenes is she's going to Georgetown University Law School. This is a top 14 law school in this country. Now, she's claiming that she's some poor law student, but she's flying all around the country doing TV shows. But that's the point I want to make. The point I do want to make is here's a young woman who, when she graduates, the average Georgetown University student, starting salary is $165,000 a year. $165,000 a year. That's the average starting salary from somebody who graduates from that law school.

Now, people like her will make a great living because other people are in stress, because other people need rest. The pharmaceutical business makes a great living because of people who are under stress. And yeah, I'm saying here humility brings about the healing powers of rest. Let's turn to Matthew 11 and notice the words of Jesus Christ. Matthew 11 and verse 28, and let's notice the beauty that Jesus Christ wants us to understand about humility. There's one facet, and again, humility is a multifaceted subject. We're going to take a look at one of the beautiful facets today. Matthew 11 and verse 28, all read letter in my Bible.

It says, Come to me all you who labor and are heavenly laden, I will give you rest. I will give you rest. Jesus Christ, here in the book of Matthew, Matthew takes a perspective from the Jewish perspective, from the Jewish point of view. To the Jews who were coming out of Egypt, they looked forward to the Promised Land. When they were looking forward to the Promised Land, they were looking forward to a time of rest.

You see that also in the book of Hebrews. The kingdom of God is depicted as a place of rest, a place of refreshment, a place of freedom from guilt, a place where one is delivered, where God promises to help and to guide. Jesus Christ has all of this in mind when He's telling them, I'm going to give you rest. I'm going to give you rest. But let's carry on here, verse 29.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me. Now, what is it that He wants us to learn from Him? He says, For I am gentle and lowly in heart. I want you to learn what it is to be lowly in heart. I want you to learn what it is to be humble. And when you learn to be humble, you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. This is a tremendous blessing. And you know, I would dare say, every one of us in this room has not taken God up on us. I would say, every one of us in this room, there have been times in our life where we have lacked rest, where we have been stressed. We have been stressed out. We have been cruising on our last nerve and not feeling God's rest at all.

Could it be because you and I have taken too much on our own shoulders? We are trying to do too much on our own. We try to do too much on our own. Isn't that basically a kind of a prideful thing? Because we want to take so much on ourself, on our own, and we kind of get into the pride mode, then the humble mode is kicked to the curb. And with being kicked to the curb, so is rest.

So, you know, it's up to you and I. And I think we've all been there. I think we've been all guilty of this. I think it's up to you and I to take Christ at His word and to allow Him to work certain things in our life out. Now, there are certain things we need to do, but there are certain things we need to let God do.

So, let's put a marker here in Matthew 11. We're going to come back to this in a little bit. But let's go to Mark 6. Want to find other places where the same word rest is used and show you the context. Mark 6 is another location. Mark 6. The background to Mark 6. This is the chapter where John the Baptist is beheaded. Now, John the Baptist was the man that all the disciples knew of. He was very famous. And when he was beheaded, I'm sure all the disciples were thinking, are we next?

Is this Herod going to lop off our heads? So, we're talking about more stress. They already were stressed. They had an unbelievable schedule they were adhering to. And with that in mind, with all the stress, all the things they were doing, Christ was very much on the clock. Christ was on a deadline. He were certain things that he had to fulfill all the prophecies. He had to do all of his teaching.

He had to establish a New Testament church. Christ was a driven man. And therefore, the disciples were not. Christ knew how to handle that. The disciples did not. But notice what it says here in chapter 6, verse 31. And he said to them, Christ says to the disciples, Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest for a while.

I want you to rest for a while. For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. I'm sure all of us in this room have had times like that in our lives. We're working long hours. We're burning both ends of the candle at the same time. And there's just... I was talking to a member just the other day. They had worked a 12-hour day. They were going to go home, grab a bite to eat, and go right to bed. They were going to get up the next morning, and they were working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. And, you know, in this person's situation, they don't even have the opportunity to go to church.

Because the closest church is something like over a 2-hour drive one way. So this individual had said, you know, I've never been to a computer, man, but I've got to get a computer.

So I can watch at least services and partake of services on the computer. Because he was just so bone tired because of the way he's got to work. We need rest. We all need rest. Now, there's another place over here in 1 Corinthians. Same word is used, but it's an interesting... They don't use the word rest in this citation. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 16.

1 Corinthians 16. Starting here in verse 17. 1 Corinthians 16 verse 17. I am glad about the coming of Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Achaeus, for what was lacking on your part they supplied. For they refreshed my spirit in yours, therefore acknowledged such men.

In verse 18, in my new King James it says, They refreshed. That's the same word as rest. To be refreshed. Humility helps us to be rested and refreshed. These were humble servants of God. They put others before themselves. That's why they were people that were good ministers of the Gospel back in that day. And because of what they were doing, people around them were refreshed. Now, we go back to Matthew 11. Let's go back there again. Matthew 11. Verse 29. I just want to reemphasize something here. Verse 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. In this Passover season, let's make it a point where we go and we ask God to teach us. To teach us all the aspects of humility. Not just we understand where to serve one another, but there are other aspects. The aspect of allowing God to give us rest. To give us refreshment.

And we do that in so many cases by putting our life more in His hands. And saying to ourselves, I keep on trying to take all this extra work on myself, and it just isn't working. If we're successful, that can bring pride. And humility gets kicked to the curb. If we're not successful, we can be thinking about ourselves and what we've not accomplished. Again, our mind gets on self, and again, humility gets kicked to the curb. And with either the success or even the failure, our mind's going to be focused on something where we don't have rest. One last scripture I want to quote to you along these lines for this part of the sermon is over here in Isaiah chapter 57. Isaiah chapter 57.

In verse 15, Isaiah 57.15, For thus as the high and the lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, this is Isaiah 57.15, I will dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Barnes, in his commentary, says, about this particular verse, to revive literally means to make alive. The sense is, and I'm quoting from Barnes' notes, the sense is, God imparts spiritual life and comfort to us. He is to them what refreshing reigns and genial sons and do's are to a drooping plant.

Have you ever felt like a drooping plant? Man, I felt worse than a drooping plant. I felt like some of those plants, you go to the veggie store and all these things that people are walking on, they're discolored, they're smashed. That's kind of how I feel from time to time. Yet, if we have humility, notice the connection between humility and healing. If we're humble, God says, He will revive us. He will give us life.

Point number one is that humility brings about healing, the healing powers of rest.

If I'm not as rested as I should be, it's probably because I'm taking too much on myself. I've got too much of Randy Delosandro in my own eyes. I'm not allowing God to do for me what God can do for me. I've got to do for myself what I should do, but there are things I should allow God to do. And when I'm not doing that, I'm not really resting and enjoying the beauty that God gives us with that. Point number two.

Point number two. Humility brings about the healing power of cleansing.

The healing power of cleansing. Obviously, something we would think about on Passover, wouldn't we? An opportunity for cleansing? Once again, we want to take a look into the pages of the Old Testament. Let's go to 2 Kings 5. There's a wonderful example here with a little bit of a surprise ending.

2 Kings 5.

And verse 1.

Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the sight of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.

Now, when you study in the history, you see this Naaman was not only the chief general of all the forces of Syria, which was a tremendous regional power in the Middle East.

He probably also had a title something similar to that of Prime Minister. He was a man to be reckoned with. He was a man of very high rank. And yet, despite all the good deeds he did for Syria, he was a leper.

The king, not wanting to lose so valuable a man in his kingdom, heard of Elisha and wanted this man, the Naaman, to seek out Elisha and to be healed. He had heard that this man in Israel had tremendous healing powers, cleansing powers.

And so the king orders, or requests, whatever, for this commander of his to go seek out Elisha the prophet. We drop down to verse 9. The Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house.

Now, human beings being what they are, a man with this kind of power, this kind of influence in his own nation, he didn't come by himself. He had his aides. I'm sure he had plenty of soldiers with him. He may have well had a fairly large caravan.

He seeks out Elisha. He comes to Elisha's house. Verse 10. And Elisha messaged him, saying, Go and wash and endure in seven times, and you and your flesh will be restored to you, and you shall be clean.

I guess there will be people who say, well, that's kind of rude.

This man travels all this way to come to a man of God. The man of God didn't even come to the door.

I mean, if you came to me, you wanted to be anointed, and I didn't even come to the door.

What would you think of me at that point?

Naaman became furious. Verse 11. Went away and said, Indeed! I said to myself, He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal a leprosy.

So, you know, here's a guy right now full of pride, full of vanity. He wouldn't talk to me! It's me! What's wrong with this guy? He wants me. Verse 12. Are not the Abana and the Parfir the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

So once again, you see the vanity here. You see a total lack of humility here.

Of course, his servants realizing how powerful this guy is. You know, you don't want to kind of upset him right now. You might lose your head, like quite literally. So they wait for him to calm down. Verse 13 then comes up. And the servants came near and spoke to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more when he says to you, Wash and be clean?

So, you know, in humility, this guy is now going to swallow his pride, and he's going to do what he was told to do. He was not being told to do this by some king or somebody who was an even more powerful military man. This is a man of the cloth. So it took a lot of humility for him to do this. Not that he was by any stretch fully versed in humility, but he's learning.

So he went down and dipped seven times into Jordan according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

What do we learn here? We learn that humility, in his case, is bringing cleansing.

Cleansing of what? Cleansing of leprosy.

Brethren, understand something. In the Bible, this is why I think this is a beautiful lesson to discuss when we're talking about the Passover. In the Bible, leprosy is a type of sin. What did leprosy do? Leprosy got into the flesh, it went deep into the flesh, it would disfigure and destroy and bring death.

Isn't that what sin does? Doesn't sin get deep into our flesh? Doesn't sin disfigure and destroy us spiritually and bring death to us if not repented of?

So here we've got a story about a man who is physically cleansed of leprosy.

But I say to you, there is a spiritual parallel here.

The parallel is that if you and I have the humility that God wants us to have and will help us to achieve with His grace, then we can have a cleansing spiritually.

Let's continue on with the story and see the surprise ending. Verse 15.

And he returned to the man of God, this is the name, and returned to the man of God, Elisha.

He and all of his aides, again, he wasn't by himself, and came and stood before him and said, Indeed, now I know that there is no God on all the earth except in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.

But Elisha said, as the Lord lives before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.

And he heard him take it, but he refused.

Here we see, even in the Old Testament, a principle that we have, you know, Mr. Armstrong saw this, we have used this as a foundational principle in the work of God for generations.

Freely you have been given, freely give yourself.

We don't charge people for our services. We don't charge people for the literature.

We don't charge people for any of it. It's all free. It's all free.

And here you've got Elisha performing this tremendous miracle, a life-saving miracle.

And Naaman wants to pay him. He says no.

And again, when we look at this from a spiritual perspective, you can't pay for God's grace.

You can't pay for the healing that God gives us.

So there's a tremendous analogy here spiritually.

But we're not done. Let's take a look at what I believe to be a surprise ending, verse 17.

So Naaman said, then if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth, for your servant will no longer either burn offerings or sacrifice to other gods but to the Lord.

So we realize this man here, who starts out furious, in a rage, he's all eaten up with his own pride and vanity.

He comes to understand humility. Again, maybe just beginning to understand humility.

But God saw that he was beginning to understand and God blessed him, even for whatever he had at that point.

He was physically cleansed, but verse 17 shows it went farther.

Verse 17 shows he wanted to be spiritually cleansed.

What would he want with two mule-loads of dirt?

What he wanted to do is take that dirt back to his home country and build an earthen altar so he can worship the true God.

So we're looking at a man who had a real moment of understanding through humility and began to worship the great God.

He was being physically cleansed. He was being spiritually cleansed. And that is a tremendous blessing we have as we take a look at the subject of humility.

Now, I've been dancing all around this, the whole sermon. Let's go to John 13. Let's go to the foot-washing chapter.

John 13. Let's see something here.

John 13. Verse 3. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands so that he had come from God and was going to God, if anyone had a reason to be vain and proud, it would have been Jesus of Nazareth. But he wasn't.

He rose from supper and laid aside his garments. He took a towel and he girded himself.

After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and the wife of him with a towel with which he was girded.

Now, we understand what Christ here is about to do.

In the Holy Land, people are walking around with open-toed sandals. Their feet get really dirty as they're walking the various highways and byways.

And so, you know, it was given the task to the humblest of servants to wash dirty feet.

We understand that. But, you know, in the Scriptures we have several layers of understanding, several layers of truth.

All of them beautiful, all of them very, very important.

And this chapter, I believe, is not just discussing the fact of just physical foot washing.

I believe this chapter is also talking about the spiritual sacrifice of Jesus Christ and how we can be washed and have not just physical dirt washed away from us, but have spiritual dirt washed away from us.

Let me make my point here by looking at the Scriptures.

Verse 6, that He came to Simon Peter and Peter said to him, Lord, are You washing My feet?

And Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing, You do not understand now, but You will know after this.

Well, right now the Holy Spirit was working with Peter, not in Peter.

So He didn't have the understanding that you and I have today with the help of God's Holy Spirit.

Verse 8, Peter said to him, You shall never wash My feet.

And Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.

Now, look, if this is simply talking about washing physical feet only, I don't think Christ is saying here, Look, Peter, if you don't wash those feet of yours, forget it, fella. Go someplace else. I don't think that's what He's getting at here.

I think what Christ wants Him to realize is there's an attitude that needs to be here, an attitude of humility, of service, and there also needs to be a cleansing spiritually here.

Not just physical dirt needs to be removed. Spiritual dirt needs to be removed.

If I don't wash you, you have no part with Me.

Saint Peter said to Him, Lord, not My feet only, but also My hands and My head.

He was bathing to wash only His feet, but it's completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you.

Now, all of them had their feet washed, every one of them.

So here again we see where I don't think that physical foot washing is the only thing that is referenced here.

You are clean, but not all of you. Judas's carriot had his feet washed too.

And yet Christ is saying, you are not all clean.

See, the 11 disciples, even though they were not yet converted, they were on the road to conversion.

They were believers who had a ways to go, they had to receive God's Holy Spirit, but they were on the right path. Judas was not.

Judas represented an unrepentant non-believer.

Verse 11, For he knew who would betray him, obviously not an act of a believer, therefore he said, you are not all clean.

When I talk about believer, I'm talking about somebody who really stayed with Christ and went that way as a way of life.

Judas was with Christ in one sense, but not truly with Christ.

But Christ says here of Judas, he was not clean. His feet had been washed, but he was not clean.

So here we see an example where there needs to be a cleansing, not just physically, but spiritually.

And that cleansing comes about partially through humility.

We've got to come before God in deep humility and confess our sins.

We've got to come before God in deep humility and say, you know, Father, just like the publican did, or the sinner did.

I don't want so much as to look up into heaven, but please forgive me for I'm a sinner.

That's the humility God wants us to have.

But there's another aspect of this. Let's take a look at Ephesians 5.

Here's a lovely scripture that's talking about husband and wife relationships.

Yet, it's also a discussion about Christ in the church, Christ in his bride, Christ in the church.

Ephesians 5, verse 25, Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her.

So we're now looking at Christ's sacrifice for the church.

That he might sanctify and cleanse her.

Cleansing.

That he might sanctify, set her apart, and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.

We understand we're cleansed with the washing of the blood of Jesus Christ.

We understand we're cleansed by following the word of God after that blood.

That's where we have passed over in a day, so one love and bread, correct?

But we have a cleansing process here.

Verse 27, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle.

There we see where the blood comes in.

Not having spot or wrinkle. All those things are forgiven. She should be holy and without blemish.

That's where she's washed by the water.

She has to understand, okay, I can pass over. My sins have been forgiven me, but we have the days of unlimited bread.

I must live a certain kind of life right now.

And for us to experience that, we have to be humble people.

And for humble people, we'll experience the healing power of cleansing.

Point number three. Point number three.

Point number three.

Humility brings about the healing power that overcomes the forces of evil.

Have you ever faced a demon?

Are there any demons in your family?

We're going to look at an example of a woman whose daughter was demon-possessed.

And it was through humility that Christ cast that demon out of that young woman.

It was because the mother came to Christ in deep humility and asked.

So here we're going to see where humility brings about the healing power that overcomes even the demons.

Let's go to Matthew chapter 15.

Matthew chapter 15.

You perhaps have read this section of Scripture and kind of marveled at it.

You probably had a lot of questions about it.

Because we see Jesus Christ here responding to somebody in a way that we don't typically think of Jesus Christ working with somebody.

Matthew chapter 15 verse 21.

Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David, my daughter severely demon-possessed.

Severely demon-possessed.

Let me read this section and we'll go back and analyze.

Verse 23. But he had answered her, not a word.

Now, if you came to me in services, I'll do a little commentary.

But if you came to me in services and said, you know, Mr. D, I've got demon problems in my family, and I just looked at you and maybe walked off, what would you think?

Probably nothing too positive.

But in his disciples, verse 23, his disciples came and urged him, saying, Send her away, for she cries out after us.

The disciples were looking at this and saying, you know, we're trying to go from point A to point B.

We've got this woman crying behind us, screaming out to you, perhaps, and she's making a real spectacle of herself.

Jesus, would you please send her away?

But he answered and said, I was not said except for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Now, again, put yourself in her shoes.

You know, you come to a minister, you say, I've got demon issues, my daughter's got demon issues.

Maybe I say nothing. And then when I do open my mouth, I say, hey, look, I'm not here to help you. I'm here to help them.

What in the world? This is Jesus Christ.

Now, we know Jesus Christ loves her and a daughter. He died for them.

So what's happening here? What's happening here?

Then she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

But he answered and said, it is not good for the sake of the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.

Again, brethren, if I said this to you, you'd be on a phone calling home office.

Hey, Mr. Del Sandro has really gone off the reservation here.

He's been rude. He doesn't answer my questions. He doesn't seem to care about me.

He said he's here to help other people, not me. And now he's calling me a dog.

Verse 27. And she said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table.

Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire.

And her daughter was healed from the demons that very hour.

What's happening here?

Well, what is happening here is you've got a woman who sees her need in part.

She hears that there is this man who performs miracles, this son of David, but she doesn't really understand who he is.

Just that he may be able to do something for her on this basis, and that's the end of that.

This woman needs...and Christ understands this. Christ has a strategy.

Just because he's not saying something doesn't mean he doesn't have a strategy.

Christ loves this woman tremendously. He loves the daughter. He wants to help.

But Jesus Christ realizes he needs to teach this lady, and we need to go step by step through the process to bring her to the place where he can do what he did at the end, and that's heal her.

Brother, there are times when you and I go before God and we ask for prayers, or we pray ourselves, and what do we get? We get silence from God, just like this woman did.

Does that mean God's not listening? Jesus is listening to her?

Does that mean God's not going to act? Jesus acted in her behalf?

There are times when this woman got answers that just seem to defy understanding who God is.

God still loved her, and God healed the daughter.

So in our lives, sometimes things don't go the way we think they should go.

Sometimes we think we're getting a lot of silence from God.

We may hear things that just go contrary to what we think about God.

Maybe from other people, other brethren, they may be well-meaning, but they've got an eschewed idea of where God's coming from, or whatever.

But let's understand exactly what is here, because I think this is a tremendously powerful study in humility.

And for us who sometimes don't get our prayers answered, I think we can take a look at this example and see exactly the machinery and the thinking of Jesus Christ and God the Father.

Now, in verse 22, we see this woman is crying out.

That's the first thing, and that got Christ's attention.

He may not have said something at the beginning, but that got his attention.

She's crying out, and there are many people who cry out today.

You've got people all around the world who are crying out.

But she's crying out to Jesus.

He heard her. He didn't take action immediately.

But he heard this.

And then she says, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.

Christ heard that.

Christ was not offended by that, but Christ realized, Okay, here's a woman who I want to help.

I'm going to help. But before I help her, I need to bring her down the road to have her understand something. I am more than just a Jew.

I am more than just the lineage of David.

I am God in the flesh.

She doesn't understand that. Not her fault. We've not opened her mind yet. But now I'm going to do that. I'm going to start working with her to open her mind to show her I'm more than just the Son of David.

Maybe you're not getting the answer to your prayers because there are things you or I don't understand fully yet.

And not that God's being harsh. He wants to bring us down the road a little bit before he answers our prayer. And that's for our benefit. Okay?

He says, my daughter is severely demon possessed.

Well, you know, that is a horrible situation to be in.

So verse 23, he doesn't say anything, but again, Christ has a plan. He's got a strategy. His disciples. And again, think of it from this woman's perspective. She hears this man as a tremendous healer that he's cast out demons in the past. She comes to him. He is silent. His coworkers are belligerent toward her.

And many people at that point in time would say, forget this. This is not the guy. This can't be the church.

How can this be the church? Look at the fruits.

And yet, people don't give it the time that's necessary.

Here in verse 24, Christ says, I was not sent except for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is not a put-down. Christ is not dissing her. Christ is simply giving this woman the truth.

He's giving her the truth. This is the primary reason I'm here. And again, it's not that Christ doesn't love everybody. Christ loves everybody.

He loves everybody.

But part of the thing now we're beginning to see, as this woman is hanging in there, is that Christ wants to see what kind of persistence she has.

Will she persist or will she just wilt? That's something for us to think about, too. When we seem to get nothing but silence out of God, then we need to ask ourselves, okay, let's be persistent. We can ask ourselves, am I asking according to God's will? Am I living according to God's will? If we're doing those things to the best of our ability, we know we're imperfect. That's why we've got a Savior. But if we're doing those things to the best of our ability, then even though we're hearing silence, it's a matter of us needing to be persistent and to be humble and realizing He's going to do what's right by us and to trust Him.

In her case, there was something else she needed to learn. She was a Canaanite. She was a Gentile. She needed to realize there was only one God worthy of worship. It's just not the Son of David. It's Jesus the Christ. She had to come to see that. So Christ says here in verse 26, it's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.

He wants to see how she's going to respond to this. Is she going to continue to be persistent? Is she going to continue to be humble here? And she said, Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Wasn't Yes, Son of David. It was Yes, Lord. She's learning. She's growing. Christ has opened up her heart, her mind.

She's seeing. She's moving forward with the truth. She's not totally there where she needs to be. But neither are you or I. It says, Even the little dogs eat crumbs which fall from their master's table. There's something else I forgot to mention when I was going through this section. Here she is in verse 27 talking about the little dogs eating the crumbs. Christ saw that. He says, This truly is a humble woman. I've given her the silent treatment. My disciples have treated her like trash.

And yet, she's hung in there. Why is she hung in there? Verse 22 says, Behold, a woman came and came from that region and cried out to him, saying, Have mercy on me. She was praying for her daughter. She wanted her daughter to be well. She wanted her daughter to be rid of the demons. But notice how much kinship she had with her daughter. Those of us who are parents, we can understand this. We understand that we would rather take it upon ourselves. That's why Christ took it upon Himself. As an older brother, an older family member, He came to put it upon Himself so we wouldn't face eternal death.

Christ saw the fact that she was praying for somebody else's daughter. She wasn't being selfish. She was now calling Him, Lord. She says, I'm a little dog. She's humble. So she's making some real progress. And because she's making this progress, that's when Jesus says, Oh, woman, great is your faith. We've put some real roadblocks in front of you, and you've gone through all of them.

Persistent, humble, trusting. And through her humility, her daughter was healed. And here's the forces of evil were put aside. Or put aside. A woman had incredible faith. She had incredible faith in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11. Let's turn there for just a moment. Hebrews 11. And verse 6. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is. Now, this is the faith chapter. And this is something that Jesus Christ wanted this woman to understand.

Who God, who the real God is. Not Jesus, the son of David, but Jesus the Christ. And that woman came to understand that God is. And notice then in verse 6 here, Hebrews 11. And that He has a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. She diligently sought the healing of her daughter. She wouldn't take silence for an answer. She didn't get up at Him.

She didn't get up, you know. She didn't flail away. She simply said, okay, I'm just going to double down on my prayers. I'm going to double down on my walk with God. I'm going to find out who the real God is. I'm going to walk by His way and do what He wants. And her prayer was answered. So point number three is that humility brings about the healing power that overcomes the forces of evil. Lastly, point number four. I'm sure there can be more points running out of time here.

But point number four. The ultimate. Humility brings about the healing power of the resurrection to glory. The ultimate healing. The healing where you and I are resurrected to no longer be flesh and blood. We are resurrected to be a part of the family of God. We are totally spirit. You talk about a healing. Where we become total love, as God is. Let's look at the example of Jesus Christ. The tremendous example among these lines. Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians chapter 2 verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. Now let's analyze the mind here. Who being in the form of God didn't consider robbery to be equal with God. Here's a being who's got much to be prideful about. A lot of ego can be here, but of course that wasn't true of Jesus Christ. But he made himself of no reputation. Taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men. You know, brother, I was saying earlier today over in Ann Arbor. You and I can't really understand verse 7. We won't understand verse 7 until we ourselves are made spirit. We can kind of understand a little bit, but you know, we don't know what it's like to be God. So we have a limited mind, and a limited mind can't really fully understand an unlimited God. But Jesus Christ walked away from all that beauty and glory and splendor, and he came in flesh. He lived like us, he breathed like us, he got tired like us, he sweat like us, he cried like us. He even died for us and died like us. Of course, he died a lot worse than we did or will. But it says he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant. So again, we're talking humility here. Verse 8, and being found in the appearance of man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. And notice what humility gave him. Therefore, God, therefore, because of this humility, humility of verse 8, therefore, verse 9, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now, of course, we realize when we are resurrected, we are not going to be on the same level in terms... We don't have the same power as God the Father, the same power as Jesus Christ, the same position as God, the same position as Christ. We understand that. But we will be of the God family. We will be totally spirit. We'll be totally love. But again, we have to be humble people to experience that beauty, the beauty of the resurrection to glory.

Let's take a look at Matthew 5. We've only got a few more Scriptures left. Matthew 5 is the beginning of the hard and core teaching of Jesus Christ. Matthew 5, 6, 7 is the Sermon on the Mount. Those chapters discuss the Sermon on the Mount.

What is the very first thing that Jesus talks about on this bedrock basic teaching? What's the very first thing Christ gets into? Matthew 5, 1, 1, 1, and seeing them all the foods, He went up onto the mountain, when He was seated, His disciples came to Him. So this is Christ teaching His men, the inner group that was going to go out and start churches here and there and start the New Testament Church era. He opened His mouth and taught them, saying, and notice the very first bedrock foundational thing He discusses, Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the humble, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Notice the connection there, humility and resurrection to glory. If we are not going to be humble people, we're never going to see the kingdom of God. It's as simple as that. Because if we're not humble people, we're vain people. If we're not humble people, we are arrogant people. If we're not humble people, we'll be just like Satan. And God's not going to have any more of Satan's running around. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

To be humble means to acknowledge our utter helplessness before God.

You know, over in Ann Arbor last week, we had a very nice... I was here, but last week over in Ann Arbor they had a square dance. People come from far and wide to attend the Ann Arbor square dance. But as it turned out, when I was asking Keith Hobbs, I said, well, what do we have for attendance over in Ann Arbor? He said, well, we had 76. And that's down quite a bit, because last year we had over 100. And I said, well, what happened? He said, well, we had a lot of visitors, but most of our regular people were gone. A lot of our regular people were gone. I said, well, how many? So he thought about who wasn't there. He wrote me a list that all these people were absent. It was literally 50% of the Ann Arbor church was not there last week. 50%. Due in large part to the fact that most were sick.

When you and I are in this flesh, we get sick. We may think that we are indestructible. We may think that we're high and mighty. But the older we get, life teaches us lessons. Right?

That, you know, I knew that point, but God reinforced that point for me this last December when I was in the hospital. You know, when I was a kid going to college, I remember so distinctly, I never missed a day of work or school the four years I was in college. And I was putting in the equivalent of a 70-hour week every week for four years. When you added the classes, the homework time, all the, you know, my work as a landscaper, to work my way through college, and all the other things that were required for us to do with students, you know, the spokesmen's clubs, and all these other things. When I counted it all up, it was a 70-hour week. And there were times in my dorm, I remember one year specifically, in my particular dorm room, there were eight in the dorm, but there were two bedrooms to a dorm. A bedroom of four, the study area, another bedroom of four. I remember one year there were three of the four guys in my bedroom who had the flu. I mean the puking flu. I mean it was messy, and it was awful. And they were really sick. I didn't get sick. I never got sick in four years of college living through that. I didn't get sick until God blessed me with children.

My little pumpkins brought sickness to me. And so, you know, when you were that way, you think, well, I'm made of iron here. Well, as you get older, you realize now you're made of flesh. I've got a knee that tells me I made of flesh. It's almost bone on bone. I've got one ear that I can't hardly hear out of. And the guy says, well, you know, we still need this, Tal de los Andros.

He's nothing but a ball of flesh. He's weak. So let us appendix explode in him. Stick him in the hospital there at the U of M. And when those urges come where you've got to just use the restroom in the middle of the night, go ahead and get up and walk over to the restroom. That's simple, isn't it? It doesn't take a he-man to do that. So there I am two or three o'clock in the morning. I'm posturing every way because I've got no strength. And because of the incision across my abdomen, every time you're moving, that muscle pulls and it grabs and you don't want to move. And so it would take me literally 10 to 15 minutes to get out of bed. But every maneuver I can think of to not want to call for a nurse because somebody wasn't as humble as I should have been.

So to be humble here, it's a lifelong learning curve.

A lifelong learning curve. And as we get older, hopefully we don't become just stupid old people. Vain old people. Hopefully we learn some of life's lessons, all of us. I'm still learning. I'm thinking that you are as well. But these people who are poor in spirit, they acknowledge their utter helplessness before God, they realize that there's nothing that we do that has any lasting value apart from the grace of God.

You can reference the sermon I gave you on the last great day this last year at the Feast in Hawaii. I talked about that. Whatever you think you've accomplished, you've only accomplished because you have the grace of God. I'm talking spiritual things. We can accomplish physical things, but to accomplish something spiritual will last for all time. That requires the grace of God. That's spiritual. And we need God's help for that. We need to be humble about that.

But when we have that humility, as it says here, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, the greatest, the ultimate in blessings for being humble. Let's take a look at a couple of scriptures and conclude. Let's look at Hebrews 8.

Hebrews 8, verse 12, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more.

Christ doesn't say that to the people who are vain, the people who are arrogant, the people who are prideful, but the people who are humble, they will rejoice, they'll be blessed into the kingdom of God. To the people who are humble, because they are humble, because they come before God and say, like the sinner did, Father, be merciful to me as sinner.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Last scripture for the day is over here in Romans 8.

Romans 8, verse 16 and 17.

Romans 8, verse 16, The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

We are the children. We don't have to wonder, are we there?

God doesn't want his children walking around thinking, well, am I going to make it? Yeah. Unless you decide you want to stop repenting, unless you decide you're going to spit on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you're not going to keep the Sabbath of the Holy Days and all those other things, you're going to totally look, you're turning your back on God. I don't think any of us in this room want to do that or are going to do that. You know, we have been baptized, we have repented, our sins have been forgiven, our names are in the Lamb's Book of Life. We understand that now we are the children of God.

It says that over in 1 John as well. But verse 17, If children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we might also be glorified together. Again, notice the connection between suffering or humility and being glorified.

As you and I suffer, as we go to God and ask for, receive and learn humility, then we ourselves will be resurrected to glory.

So, brethren, this is the first part of the three-part series, talking about the various aspects of the Passover. Next Sabbath we'll talk about the bread and the powerful and the beautiful message that is there about that. But today we want to talk about how humility brings to bear powerful healing. We are healed by God giving us rest, by God cleansing us, by God overcoming the forces of evil as we are humble before him. And also, our humility will bring about the healing power of the resurrection to glory, the ultimate, the ultimate happiness. Hopefully, brethren, this has helped, and we can look forward to next Sabbath.

Thank you.