Yeshua's Humility and Obedience

It is written, "Now before the Feast of Passover, when Yeshua knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him. Yeshua, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself." Hours before Yeshua was crucified for all of our sins at Passover, He provided the disciples a final lesson on servantthood until His moment of ultimate servantthood at the cross. It is written, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." Although the Master knew the Father had given Him all things into His hands and that He was going to ascend to heaven, He still provided one last illustration of what He commands of all of us: to humble ourselves and to love one another. It is written, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

As the story continues, Yeshua literally humbles Himself to show the disciples in a physical form the essence of humility and servantthood. It is written, "After that He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He had girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, 'Lord, are you washing my feet?' And Yeshua answered and said to him, 'What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will know after this.'" So, once Messiah poured water into a basin and began to wash their feet as an example of love and servantthood, notice how John writes that Yeshua wiped their feet with the towel that He had girded Himself with, which signifies the girdle of truth, Ephesians 6, which is the word of Elohim, which is Yeshua. I mean, this is very powerful, friends, to really discover these devotions or these stories in the Bible with the Hebrew letter that's really associated with it. It's really amazing. So, again, Yeshua had the towel. Remember, He girded Himself with a towel, and He took that towel from where He was girded, and He washed the disciples' feet. Okay? And that puts on basically the girdle of truth. Remember in Ephesians 6, it says the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the sword of the Spirit, guard me in Your truth. And that's what Yeshua was girding the disciples in was in His truth of the Father's commandments. Okay? So, this is a pretty powerful scene when we look at it this way, of what Yeshua was doing. He humbled Himself, of course, and He was being the servant to them, and He wanted them to understand the picture that He was painting. And they did receive that picture after the events happened with the first coming events. That's what happened to the disciples, and they turned the world upside down after that, as it is recorded, I believe, in the book of Acts. So, my friends, this is very powerful. We'll read it again just to understand it.

"But once Messiah poured out or poured the water into the basin and began to wash their feet as an example of love and servantthood, notice how John writes that Yeshua wiped their feet with a towel that He was girded by, which signifies the girdle of truth, which is the word of Yahweh, who is Yeshua." Amen. Amen. Let us recall that Yeshua said that He would send the Holy Spirit to teach and remind us of all things, which surely points to the word of Elohim. Assuredly, the Holy Spirit is our perfect teacher and witness of Yeshua and His ways and commandments. Just like He says in John 15, verse 26, He told the people, He said that basically the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, will come, and He will not speak on His own accord. He will speak whatever is spoken by the Father and the Son. Okay? So, again, my Christian friends, my Jewish friends, whoever friends, understand Genesis to Revelation. All of it or none of it. Okay? All of it or none of it. We've got to understand that as the scene continues to unfold, the Apostle Peter chimes in on the conversation, as normal. It is written, "Peter said to Him, 'You shall never wash my feet.' And Yeshua 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 feet.'" This fascinating dialogue between Yeshua and Peter provides us great insight into how important it is to continue a spiritual purification journey. He has to wash and cleanse us, and sometimes that is not such a comfortable thing to go through. But He is, He is striving with us to go deeper than ever before with Him. In other words, at first, beginning a purification journey seems difficult because Yah is showing us what we need to repent of and get out of our life. This can seem difficult at first, but remember, freedom is never easy, including spiritual freedom. And we have to make sure that we have a pure and clean heart, which means to die to ourselves every single day.

It is written, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all of my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O Yah, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. In the name of blood Yeshua, amen, amen, and amen." In this beautiful repentance letter penned by King David, may we have the same favor as he did, because although we were once like scarlet, Yeshua washes and cleanses us as white as snow. We win with the blood of the Lamb. Cleanse, wash, purify, and refine. This is the desire of the Father's heart as we journey from the cross to the crown. Okay? Look how beautiful this is with King David. I want to go back and look how beautiful this is. Okay? And again, I tell people all the time whenever we talk about the journey, the purification journey, I call it the cross to the crown journey. But whatever you want to call it, it's not easy to start this process or even to go through the process. That's why most people don't want to go through the process of purification, of refinement, of understanding, of knowledge, of wisdom, so that we can be the light at the end of the age. And we can have knowledge, have wisdom, have understanding so we can help other people go search it out. And then they can go search out what we have spoken to them. Okay? So, this is really paramount. I tell people all the time, following Yah, okay? And following His days, following the Sabbath, all of these things, it is not going to be as easy as people might think because Satan does not want you to be on those days, okay? Satan wants you to go like all the rest of the replaced theology, whether it's Jews or Gentiles, okay, Christians. So, he wants everybody to be in replacement theology, and he's done a pretty good job of putting both the Jews and the Christians in replacement theology, so to speak, to their own accord. And so, again, that's what he's trying to do. Daniel 7 says he's come to change the times and the seasons. He comes to change the calendar, come to change the seasons, come to change the feast days, kind of like Antiochus Epiphanes IV did, right? And all these ancient people who hated the Jewish people. So, we've got to have the heart posture to stay true to it, okay? As a friend of God. I mean, how many people want to be a friend of the Most High? I know I do. You want to be a friend of the Most High? Then follow the commandments, and you'll be a friend of the Most High. It's really that simple. Okay? You don't have to pay a hundred grand to put hands on you like some other pastors try to get people to do. You don't have to do any of that. You know, your money is no good in the kingdom of heaven, so to speak. It is, but it's not. Just please keep me in context. It doesn't cost anything, you know, for all of these things that some people charge a lot for. So, again, my friends, look at what it says right here with King David. "Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O Yah, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. In the name of blood Yeshua. Amen. Amen and amen. Very amazing.

One thing I'd like to mention before we go forward is hyssop. The herb hyssop. King David just did not write this just to write it. Let me just see what kind of herb I can put in there and it's all good. No. Think about it. "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." When did they use hyssop? Think about Exodus 12, okay? Passover. On the Passover door, they put blood and hyssop on there, okay? The actual application of it, okay? Not just whatever hyssop and blood on the lentils, okay? And they were saved from the death angel. Okay? So, King David wrote this for a certain reason, okay? "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." Now, for all of you, everybody out there, go look up hyssop. Go look up hyssop and go look at what it's for. "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me in the blood, and I will be redeemed." Basically, right? It's what the prophet Isaiah said as well, right? In Isaiah 1, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be washed as whiter than snow." And that's what King David was doing. So, again, the blood of Messiah washes us, and then the hyssop will cleanse us. Okay? Physically and literally. Like, I use hyssop as well, literally and physically, application, anointing, and also ingesting with a tea. Okay? So, please look it up. Now, when I say that, be careful with hyssop. You can only drink about a cup or two, okay? That's it. Okay? A big cup, a cup about this big, that's it, because it will, go read about it, okay? So, there's a reason why King David said that. So, my friends, those who are in herbs or not into herbs, please get into this herb, the hyssop herb, because it will help you tremendously with digestive situations, autoimmune diseases, also with skin, you know, rashes and stuff. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful herb, and you don't have to go get some Benadryl to go wipe all over you with an ointment. You can go get that. Go get hyssop and go get, go look at it with drinking it, okay? And be careful with it because it's a very strong herb, okay? And of course, I'm not a doctor. I'm not any of that stuff at all. It's just something that's helped me in life, and I just want to pass that on. And there's a reason King David said, "Purge me with hyssop." Okay? And I will be clean, okay? Because he, that's what he did. Literally, he did that. Okay? "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Okay? Very beautiful prayer. Psalm 51. We know that that was a repentance letter penned by him from Bathsheba. So, we all know what that was. But I just wanted to mention that because a lot of people are struggling with autoimmune diseases and don't take my word for it. Please go do your own research and pray about it. But hyssop is one of those things that will help you tremendously, used in the right manner, of course, as well as frankincense, as well as myrrh, as well as all of the biblical herbs are very important. Okay? The holy anointing oil, Exodus 30, very important. Okay? The application of those strong herbs are very important. Cinnamon is a great herb, okay, for inflammation and all that. So, God told them to grab these herbs for a reason, right? And hyssop, my friends, we'll just go back to tonight's lesson. Hyssop is very important, and King David wrote it for a reason. It was on the Passover doors as well. Okay? So, hyssop is a very important herb in the Bible for cleanliness, cleaning, and it will cleanse you tremendously. Okay? Just be careful with it.

Okay. Philippians 2:12-13. "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." So, again, I'll read that again in Philippians 2:12-13. "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." So, think about that. Look at what Paul says here, everybody, my Christian friends. He says, "As you have always obeyed," okay, my Christian friends, obedience to God's commandments is what Paul is saying, "not in his presence only, but much more in Paul's absence. Work out your own salvation with just grace only." He didn't say that. He said, "Work it out with fear and trembling," is what the Apostle Paul says. Okay? Work our salvation out with fear and trembling. Fear, the fear of Adonai is one of the seven spirits in Isaiah 11. I'm not talking about to have a bad fear of Him, okay? A condemning fear, but have a reverent fear of Him. Revere Him, okay? And we have forgotten how to revere the Most High. I think that's pretty common. Okay? The Jews and the Christians, all of us have forgotten. We all have forgotten how to revere the Most High and to fear Him. Not in a bad fear, a holy fear of who He truly is. We've got to get back to that. Okay? We've got, we all know about grace. We got grace. We've got to get back to the holy fear of Adonai Tzvaot and the holy fear of our Elohim in heaven. We've got to get back to that because He's going to put it inside of us. If not that holy fear that we have of Him, not bad fear, the reverence, okay, the goosebumps, okay, the holy bumps, whatever you want to call them, the Holy Spirit coming upon you, that holy fear of the Most High God. That's what He's looking for. And unfortunately today, we have all lost it as Jews and Christians. Okay? We don't have it. We don't, as a group of believers, we don't. We just don't. I think that that's a, that's not a far stretch out there. And we've got to get back to that because having a holy fear of Adonai, a righteous fear of Adonai, not an unhealthy fear of Adonai, that will put you in the right position with the Most High. Once we have that, once we get to that point of that holy fear, He is our friend. We're, and obviously He's our God and our King and the respect, but also He's our friend. We're keeping His commandments. We're walking with Him. Then you know you're on your way on that journey. Okay? None of us will arrive until we get glorified. But goodness gracious, He wants us all to keep washing our garments until we get there and try to get as spotless as we possibly can with the effort it takes to do that. Okay? It's not just about, oh, I believe in Jesus. No, it's about the effort we put with Him. Okay? The works. The works. People don't know this. Go read James. Go read Yeshua in Revelation. He's coming to give rewards for your what? Your faith? No, for your works is what He says in Revelation. For works is what He says in all the other accounts as well. So, He's coming. I think Paul even says that He's coming to give works. Now, are we saved by our works? No, we are not. We're saved by the blood of the Lamb. But once we get saved by the blood of the Lamb, then He wants us to get up and do our spiritual gifts and whatever He's called us to do. Okay? Saddle up and go. You know, so that's what He wants. Okay? And that's where we've lost it. Everybody just believes, "All I have to do is just believe in Jesus. I'm going to heaven." Okay, maybe so, maybe not. That's up to Him. But at the same time, for sure, if you love Yeshua and keep His commandments, you don't have to worry about whether you're getting into the pearly gates or not, you're in. Okay? Okay. The ones you have to worry about is the ones who are not following His commandments.

And I'm not saying they're not getting in. That's up to Him. But you've got to follow His commandments. It's all throughout the Bible. I would err on the side of caution with that. Number one, you love Him. So if you love Him, this is not anything I love. Like if I love my mother, I'm going to do whatever for her. I love my father, I'm going to do whatever for him. I love God, I'm going to be on the days. I'm going to be on the Sabbath. I'm going to be on the new moon. Because I have to? No, because I love Him. He loves me, I love Him. What kind of relationship is it if I have to do these things? "Oh my gosh, I've got to rest for the Sabbath. I mean, what a terrible commandment. I guess I'm going to start rebelling," which most Christians do and don't keep it. "Oh gosh, you want me to rest and keep it holy? You know, rest with my family, my friends, with all of you guys. Oh, what a terrible commandment. Let's all rebel like all the rest of the Christians do." That's a terrible attitude to have. We want to do it. I look forward to Shabbat for many reasons. I look forward to Passover. I can't wait for Yom Teruah. I can't wait for Yom Kippur. I can't wait for the righteous rendered verdict. That's the expectation we must have because we're friends of Him. We're in a relationship with Him. We're obeying. Are we perfect? Of course, we're not perfect. But that's where the grace comes in because the heart posture is for Him. The heart posture is for the commandments, not, "Let me see how I can break every commandment by reading Paul out of context." It's a whole difference of understanding that unfortunately, today Christianity does not have that in their theology to teach people. They didn't teach it to you, they didn't teach it to me, my parents, your parents, whoever's parents. And whatever it is, what it is, but goodness gracious, let's all try to do better, you know, with worshiping Him in spirit and in truth in your life. Again, it might not be easy, but Yeshua's life wasn't easy. The prophets' lives weren't easy. The disciples' lives weren't easy. And He said it was not going to be easy. So, if we're on easy street, then no, that's not the ticket. The ticket is travailing through this world, doing our part in His kingdom just like He did, and just like the disciples did, and just like the prophets did. You're going to be persecuted. You're going to be hated just like He was and just like the prophets. And I say hallelujah about that. I say hallelujah if you're persecuted because you know, just like we read in the beginning, be thankful when you're persecuted for righteousness' sake. And if you're following His Father's ways for righteousness' sake and you're standing up for the truth, man, you're in good company with Jeremiah. You're in good company with Moses. You're in good company with Yeshua. You're in good company with the disciples. You're in good company with all of them because they were hated for the true message of Yeshua and the commandments. It's really crazy, but that's what it's about.

As the story continues, Yeshua said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but he is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you." For He knew who would betray Him. Therefore, He said, "You are not all clean." So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I, then your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him." Talking about the Father. "If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." Again, there's that word: "if you do them." So again, my friends, He's speaking about washing feet. And basically, He's showing us an example to whether we wash feet or we're being a servant in another way to people. We have to serve people. We've got to go and do the Great Commission. Serve people. Number one, with Yeshua, with the commandments, and then obviously some of the things in life that they might need assistance with, whatever that may be, discipleship, whatever it may be. So that's what we've got to get back to. Can we recall when we've done something selfless for someone else? Something that we weren't required to do, we weren't commanded to do, we weren't ordered to do, but we did it because we love that human being? How many of us can say that? So, something that we need to search out. The resh is the head down in humility, but also to turn, is what the resh means as well. And we just have to have that accountability. What have I done lately for mankind? What have I done lately for my family, for my friends, for all of you, which are my friends? What have I done? So, we always have to check ourselves with that because a servant is always going to be checked as a servant. He's always going to have the mindset of serving people, not someone who always just takes, takes, takes, takes, takes, and takes some more. We all know those people, right? They just take, they don't give. We've got to be givers and lovers. I'm not saying to give away everything you own, like the people that were looking for the rapture last year, giving their cars away, giving their houses away, giving their bank accounts away. I wish I had their number. I'd have a lot more money now, maybe a home as well and a car. So, yeah, I wish I'd have known those people's numbers. I would have gone up there. I'm just kidding. I would have taken their money. I'd be like, "Are you out of your mind?" is what I would tell these people and showed them the shmita cycle and said, "Keep your money, man. Keep your money."

But anyhow, my friends, we've got to be servants. We all know that. And man, the human flesh is selfish, right? The human flesh is selfish. So, we've got to crucify that selfishness. All of us. I know I have it in me. I know I do. I'm trying to get it out of me, all of it out of me. That selfishness, and always be selfless. You know, when we're helping families, friends, another person, a stranger. A stranger is just as important as your friend. Maybe even more important to do it for a stranger, someone you don't know, than your own family or friends. So, my friends, the love of many has grown cold. It's really amazing to see that in a bad way of what Yeshua said and Paul said, but the love has gone out the window. It's a selfish world, as we all know. But we can't get caught up in that. We have to be caught up into what the Word of God says and what Messiah says and what the Holy Spirit is leading us to do. And that's to be a servant to the Most High, but also to our neighbor as well. So, it says to be a servant to righteousness. In the Bibles, it might say a slave to righteousness, and people might take that out of context, but He wants you to be a servant. He wants you to be shackled to Him in righteousness, in servantship, just like He did. God became flesh and was crucified for all of us. Just think about that. God, who did not have to come down, He came down to do what He did for all of mankind, to be crucified and resurrected. Totally amazing. So, the least thing that we can do is to be a servant of Him, and to be a servant of Him and to follow His Father's commandments will make you a friend of His. Right? And so, we all want to be a friend of His. And that's the only way one can be a friend of His is to follow His Father's commandments. And that's what John 14 and John 15 says as well.

As Messiah concludes His teaching, He explains to them by word and deed about loving our neighbor. After all, Yeshua declared it to be the second greatest commandment in Matthew chapter 6. Without the love of God, what do we have? Secondly, without the love of our neighbors on earth, what do we have? Does not one cooperate with the other? If Yeshua humbled Himself and showed us an example of servantship, then we must imitate His actions to the fullest and become zadiks, the righteous ones. 2 Timothy 5:1: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Messiah Yeshua, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every other name, that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those on the earth and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Yeshua HaMashiach is Adonai, Lord, to the glory of Elohim the Father. Amen."