We're so fortunate in these troubled times to
have Jesus our best friend. You know, the seminar
today, and we'll have one presentation after
the fellowship meal, having to do with the culture
of Jesus where I was born. I'm familiar with
the culture. And the book I use in my class,
Life and Teaching of Jesus at the University,
is based on this book. God help me to write,
the Middle East Messiah, cultural insights into
his life and ministry so that we can deepen and
enrich our understanding of Jesus. That's what
we're going to talk about today. And talking
about friends, what a friend we have in Jesus
as his special music showed us. You know, it's
interesting to read that, what a friend we have
in Jesus. Hear it in music, it's even more effective.
Think about that song throughout the day. Remind
yourself, whatever happens to you, Jesus is your
faithful, everlasting friend. He doesn't gossip.
He does not stab you in the back. He's the same
yesterday and today and forever. And I'll tell
you something about that. written by a poet from
my part of the world. His name is Gibran, Khalil
Gibran. His works, his poetry, translated into
English. And this is what he says about genuine
friendship, referring to Jesus, our best friend.
This is what he said. I'm translating from the
Arabic. Which says literally, a genuine friend
is someone into whom you can pour out all the
contents of your heart. Be careful. Don't lose
everybody. Only to Jesus. Pour out all the contents
of your heart. Both wheat and chaff together.
All of us have wheat and chaff, more or less.
Jesus is the only one who only has wheat. But
we can pour out all the contents of our hearts.
Chaff and wheat together. What does he do with
that? He keeps what's worth keeping, the wheat,
in one hand. With the other hand, he gently blows
away all the chaff. Have you ever found anyone
like that in this world? Be careful. I said,
be careful. I mean, you can trust your spouse
to pour out all the conscience of your heart,
maybe. Sometimes that's not the case. But be
careful. May Jesus be the best friend you have
where you can share anything you want to share
with him. He knows it already, doesn't he? He
still loves you in spite of that. Most people,
we're all human. We're all a bunch of sinners.
Most people throw away all the wheat and hold
on to the chaff. It's interesting. Jesus Throws
away our chaff, keeps our wheat. But sometimes
we do the opposite. Shouldn't we learn from Jesus?
People come to me and say, Dr. Saman, I've known
you for 50 years, 60 years. You never gossiped
against me. I can't trust you. I say, well, it's
only because of Jesus. Humanly speaking, I cannot
be trusted. Our trust must always be anchored
in the trust of Jesus. The title of this message
is His Best for My Worst. Whose best? Christ's
best. Whose worst? My worst. What do you read
in this title? What message do you get from this
title? His best for my worst. Can you give me
some examples? What do you think about when you
think about Jesus' best? What do you think about
when you think of your worst? Well, first of
all, Jesus died of a broken heart that was more
severe than the thrust of the spear and the crown
of thorns on his head and all the beating, all
the flogging. He died of a broken heart. He came
to save his own people, but his own received
him not. Even his disciples ran for their lives.
He gave his perfect broken heart for our sinful
heart. His best. For my worst. In Sabbath school,
we talked about he gave his robe of righteousness
to us for our sin. He gave his life above the
eternal for our death. His best for our worst.
I mean, I can mention many examples. Look at
his prayer on the cross of Calvary as the Pharisees
were relishing all the agony, all the pain he
was experiencing. He prayed for them. Father,
forgive them for they don't know what they're
doing. It's not easy to pray for your enemies.
We live in a culture. We live in a world. Where
people want revenge. They want to get back at
each other. It's everywhere in politics. Don't
politicians want to get back at each other? Even
you look at the royal family in the United Kingdom.
With all the dysfunction there. Hopefully Prince
William and his wife Kate. try to bring some
respect and confidence in the royalty. Look at
the dysfunction. You don't even want to think
about all that darkness. All I say is this. Our
royalty is Jesus, the Lord of Lords and Kings
of Kings. And someday his light will dispel all
darkness. There is hope for us. If you become
discouraged in this world, remember Christ Jesus
is coming. to make everything right. Doesn't
that inspire to stand up for the right today?
Very few people stand up for the right. His best
for my worst. And I'm referring to Judas. In
the culture of Jesus, you don't betray your friends.
That's the most shameful thing. Jesus invested
so much in Judas. He didn't even expose his problems
to the public. He tried to help him, love him,
guide him, doing his best for him while Judas
in his heart was rejecting Jesus. And what did
Christ's friend Judas What did he do to reciprocate
how Jesus treated them? He went to the Sanhedrin,
the Jewish leaders of Israel, and he conspired
with them to sell his friend. Do you hear what
I'm saying? To sell his friend. You could sell
chicken. You could sell vegetables. You could
sell cars. You could even sell a harp. But do
you sell people? Well, but not just people. To
sell Jesus, the most precious friend we can have.
To sell God. In other words, to sell God. To
sell the son of God. For how much? 30 lousy pieces
of silver. Which was the price of a slave? To
sell him with 30 pieces of silver the price of
a slave. That was the most shameful thing in
that culture. Oh my. If you sell your friend
for lousy money, you are to be detested. To be
ashamed for the rest of your life. Because in
that culture you have the shame and honor. People
do anything to protect their honor. Jesus gave
Judas his life and his broken heart. And he gave
him back by selling him a certain piece of silver.
In Sabbath school, we talk about the Greek word.
I'm not expecting to be my Greek students. Just
one word for today. No, two words. One word in
Greek, one word in Aramaic. What was the word?
Somebody remember? Describing Jesus in John 3
.16? For God so loved the world, he gave his
what? What's the Greek word? One word only. Somebody
remember? If you don't remember, I want to ask
Pastor Hudson. He remembers. The word is monogamous.
That's all. One word. No begotten nothing. You
say, well, come on. Are you reading from the
King James Version? No. I'm reading directly
from the original language, Greek. Is that a
good translation? It's not a translation. It's
the original language. That's why at Southern
Adventist University, our ministerial students
spend four years studying Greek and Hebrew. Why?
Because they need to understand the Bible, its
original language, to get the real meaning. Because
you have different translations, different wording.
It used to be the King James Version, and people
memorized things in that version. But now, how
do we teach our young people to memorize? What
translation? You know, like... To me, the King
James Version, even though it's old English,
but yet it's poetic. The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. It's easy to memorize. But
the Greek tells you the exact meaning. And what's
the literal meaning? Monogamous, unique. For
God so loved the world that he gave His unique
son. Whosoever believes him should not perish
but have everlasting life. We talk in Sabbath
school about this term being so meaningful, so
significant, unique. Because we have unique problems
in this world that need unique solutions. One
of you mentioned one unique problem is sin. It
is. It is a unique problem. And who can solve
the problem of sin? You can pay a psychologist
a million dollars. And by the way, psychologists,
psychiatrists charge a lot of money. Can they
solve the problem of sin? I'm putting you on
the spot here. Think about it. Who can solve
your problem of sin? You go to religious founders,
Muhammad of Islam, Buddha of Buddhism, Confucius
of Confucianism. Who can solve the problem of
sin? It's a unique problem. Nobody can solve
it. We're stuck with sin. And sin is a killer.
It's a virus that kills you. And people worry
about COVID -19. And what's the best vaccine?
And now there's a great debate, should people
have taken the vaccine or not? People didn't
think much about future consequences. You read
it on websites. My point is this, a greater Virus
is the virus of sin. We don't have debate about
what is the best vaccine. It's the shed blood
of Jesus that can cure the worst of sins. And
the sequel. To this unique problem of sin is
death. Sin causes death. Sin separates from God,
the source of life. Death is our worst. How did
Jesus solve that problem? By dying in our stead.
For the ways of sin is death. But the gift of
God is eternal life. I like the word eternal
because everything in this world is temporary.
I like teaching. Oh my, I love teaching. I miss
teaching. I'm retired now. Because as a human
being, I only have a limited life to live. You
start young before you know it. Decades pass
by. I've been living in the South 28 years. That's
a lot of years. And you become old and you retire.
I mean, I wish I could have been teaching eternally.
You can't. I mean, doctors retire, spend so much
money and effort and study to become a surgeon,
and now they're retired. Jesus never retires
from taking our sins away and giving us his robe
of righteousness. He never retires. from taking
our death away and giving us eternal life. Can
you imagine someday when Jesus comes he's going
to give us eternal life. Can you fathom that?
I mean people look at me and my wife Sharon and
they think I robbed the cradle. Thanks a lot
because they think I really look old and she
looks much younger than me. In heaven will not
compare each other with each other. We'll all
look young, vibrant. I met a brother here. He's
about my age, being a good Samaritan, active,
growing a garden, working hard physically, and
he went to the roof of a friend to help him clean
his roof. And he slipped and fell all the way
down. He injured himself. Till this day he is
suffering from this injury. The day will come
where he will never suffer injury again. No more
injury. No more suffering. No more sin. No more
separation. Can you imagine an existence without?
Satan. And you think about it. No Satan forever.
And no sin. And no sickness. I call these the
multiple S's. Even though my last name starts
with Saman, S. But S is good. It goes also for
Savior. For salvation, but also it's Satan, no
more Satan. In this world, there'll be no more
Satan. Can you imagine a world, a universe, without
Satan, without sin, without suffering, without
sickness, without surgery, without separation?
I mean, that's something we should look forward
to. And you enjoyed Mary Beth's music? Did you?
I mean, that's the best we can do in this world.
But can you imagine being in heaven and hearing
the angels play golden harps? You think the angels
are good musicians? Mary Beth, how would you
feel hearing angels playing harps? Won't that
be amazing? And not only is it amazing, by the
grace of God, you're going to learn from them.
You think you can learn some more? Thank you
for being my wife's teacher. I appreciate it.
She thinks you're an amazing teacher. She never
had a teacher like you. Maybe I'm dwelling on
this too much. Jesus is eager to give his best
in exchange for our worst. There was a... a religious
convention held in the Far East where different
religions met together, representatives of different
religions meeting together, Buddhists, Hindus,
you know, Christians, others. And each delegation
was to bring a portrait. To represent the essence
of the religion. The Buddhists brought a portrait
of Buddha. People worshipping him. And other
delegates brought other pictures to depict the
essence of the religion. Christians brought a
picture. And the sermon is about that. The picture
of who? The picture of Jesus bending at the feet
of Judas, his betrayer, the most shameful act,
and washing his feet. In that culture where I
grew up, even to this day, people... sit on the
floor on carpets. Especially during Jesus' time,
they just sat on the floor, on the carpet. And
when he washed his feet, his head almost touched
the feet of Judas. Now, what's the significance
of that? Well, in that culture, during Jesus'
time and during our time, The head represents
the most sacred, the most noble part of the body.
And the feet represents the opposite, the most
base, the most filthy part of the body. In America,
can we relate to that? Is there? I don't know.
In the Spanish culture, do you? Maybe some people
are from the Orient. I don't know. But it's a
real thing. If you want to really give somebody
a great compliment, you say, you're my head.
That's the greatest compliment you can give anybody.
But if you want to curse somebody, you say, you're
my feet. Let me even tell you more about this.
When I first came to the United States, in the
last century, let's say, in 1967. This is 2025.
Wow, almost 60 years. I went to an academy in
Portland, Oregon. I was the only international
student. So I was a novelty on campus. Everyone
talked to me like, and by the way, the culture,
clash of cultures. In my part of the world, if
somebody invites you to have a meal with them
on Sabbath, like we do, you don't say yes right
away. Isn't it interesting? And so I got many
invitations. I was a novelty. People want to
invite me home. I said, no, thank you. I don't
want to bother you. You know what Americans,
students said? Okay, it's up to you. I'm like,
please, insist. Don't give up on me so quickly.
Because in my culture, the culture of Jesus,
you don't say yes right away because that would
seem valuable. That means you're desperate. That
means you're starving to death. You are in such
trouble. No. Here in America, it's simple. If
you want to eat, fine. If not, it's okay. In
my culture, it's not okay. Like in my heart,
I would say, please ask me again. They never
asked me again. So I'm missing out on many good
meals. And finally, I still remember names. Stephen
Huey, a classmate of mine who was very sympathetic
and nice, he said, hey, Philip, people think
you're stuck up. You're proud. Why? I'm not.
I'm very humble. I'm made to be humble, you know.
He said, no, when they invite to eat at their
house, you don't accept the invitation. So they're
worried about you. What's your problem? I said,
I don't have a problem. It's not my problem.
It's their problem. He said, what do you mean?
They're offering to invite. I said, but they
don't insist. The key word is insistence. Don't
give up on me easily. Oh, no, no, no. This is
a different culture. Your culture in the Middle
East is not the same as here. So this is what
you do. Listen to me now. You're learning to
be Americanized. Listen to me. I want to help
you. Thank you. I need all the help I can have.
He said, when they invite you, say yes. Make
it simple. Would you like to come to a hospital?
Yes. Don't think. Just say yes. And from that
time on, I had free lunch. Almost every Sabbath.
But I had to experience starvation before I experienced
feasting. Different culture. The culture of Jesus,
even though you might not agree with me, is not
an American culture. I don't hear any amen here.
Why? Why? Because he was born as a Jew in Palestine.
And so the most sick and noble touching the most
filthy. We read in the commentary about that
experience in the book Desire of Ages. I believe
it's inspired commentary. This is what the author
said. Said as The hands of Jesus washed the filthy
feet of Judas. Judas felt within his being, to
the core of his being, the tremendous love of
Jesus for him. He felt it through and through.
He was totally immersed in the genuine agape
love of Jesus. Now doesn't that tell you something
about Jesus? Washing the feet of the one, the
deceiver, the thief, who to make money, he was
selling him for a third piece of silver. Yet
Jesus loved him genuinely. Excuse me? I cannot
love someone like that. Somebody is selling me.
As a friend to go to the cross. Washing his feet.
And. The love of Christ. Penetrated his heart.
Through and through with genuine love. Judas
felt it. And he almost repented. He almost repented.
He didn't have to be the one. Selling Jesus.
He almost repented. Why didn't he repent? What
was the problem? Why didn't he repent? What was
his problem? What hindered him from repentance?
And when the Holy Spirit convicts our hearts
to repent of sin, why do we choose to repent?
Do we want to wait until Jesus comes? It's too
late. Why not now? So why do you think he didn't
repent? If you don't know the answer, I'm going
to ask my wife. By the way, they put your name
as special music. And so I imagined in my head
that you were playing. That was nice, wasn't
it? But someday, I promise you, you play in heaven,
you play as good. So why do you think he did
not? You know, I'm a professor, so I get the
audience involved. I'm picking on my wife right
now. And I have confidence that she'll have the
answer, otherwise I don't ask the question. Why
do you think he did not humble himself and repent
in front of his fellow disciples? By the way,
he lied to them. They had no idea he was a sinful
person. They thought he was the best. In fact,
when Jesus said, one of you is going to betray
me, and Peter said, is it me, Lord? John said,
is it me? And Judas never said, is it me? And
the disciples thought he'll never be the one
betraying Jesus. It's amazing how people can
be so deceiving. It's amazing how the outward
appearance sometimes deceives people. Only God
knows the heart. So, Shirley, I'll try to make
the answer simple. So, in front of his four disciples,
why wouldn't he want to repent? You see, I knew
you knew the answer. Did you know the answer?
You see, you're learning something from her.
You teach her how. She teaches you how. It's
good. It's all reciprocal. Aha, that's the exact
answer. And of course, my wife heard the sermon
before, so she read my book also. She reads my
books. Anyway, it was a matter of losing faith.
Oh my, losing faith. What does that mean to lose
faith? To be embarrassed, to be shamed. If I
repent of my sin, my fellow disciple will lose
respect for me. I lose faith. I can't have this
cover up anymore. They know my real self. And
today there are many people who are willing to
be lost and not to lose faith. Not to be embarrassed.
Can you imagine when Jesus comes and you're lost?
You say, Lord, but I didn't want to lose faith.
I'd rather die than lose salvation. It's so spiritually
stupid to say I'm willing to pay the price of
losing salvation instead of being embarrassed.
That's what happens to many people. And then,
Judas decided not to lose faith, not to be embarrassed.
And he decided to turn his heart against the
love of Jesus. Wicked heart. Deceptive heart.
Turning against the loving heart of Jesus. Jesus
gave him his best. And Judas, to help with his
words, he needed help. At that point, he decided.
To betray him. To go through with the plan. To
save face. And he walked away. To receive the
money. That very evening. It's interesting. The
reactions of people. You know. People react differently
on Jesus. What did the disciples think? Oh. Jesus
whispered in his ear. He needed to go and get
more supplies for the Lord's Supper. And Jesus
said, there goes a devil. Almost saved. The love
of Christ can conquer any obstacle. Almost saved,
but not saved. He turned out to be a devil. How
close salvation is to being lost. Just remember,
unless we're vigilant, the devil can work on
us too. Didn't he work on Peter? Peter was saved.
He was humble. He had problems. And when Jesus
asked the question, who do you think I am? He
said, you, the Christ, the son of the living
God. He said, Flesh and blood didn't reveal this
to you. It's my Father in heaven who revealed
this to you. Peter was used by God the Father
to make that statement. A few verses later, Jesus
was telling him about, I'm going to suffer, to
die for the human race. Without my death, there'd
be no salvation. I mean, this is the greatest
accomplishment of Jesus. He came to die. Why?
Only in his death we could have life. And Peter
began to rebuke him. No, you'll never do that.
You'll never die. I don't accept that. And what
did Christ say to the same person, Peter, a few
minutes later? The opposite of what he said before.
What did he say to him? Huh? Get behind me, Satan.
Mary Beth, he said, God revealed this to you.
Now, he said, get behind me, Satan. Excuse me?
Salvation is so close to being lost. Our minds,
our hearts, they are the battlefield for the
great controversy between good and evil, between
Christ and Satan. Be careful. That's why I said
be vigilant. Satan's specialty is deception.
Deceives people who don't even know what's happening
to them. Remember? Lucifer. His name in heaven
before he sinned. Lucifer was the greatest of
angels. The closest to God in glory. Brightness,
love, goodness. But when he decided to be jealous,
became deceptive, and what happened? He deceived
a third of the angels. Perfect angels in a perfect
heaven. A perfect existence. He was able to deceive.
Perfect angels. A third, I don't know how many.
Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? I don't know.
Many. A third of them. The Bible talks about
thousands of thousands of thousands. Can you
imagine? To deceive a third of the angels in
a perfect environment. Now then, I just want
to enmasse Satan so we can be careful in these
last days. I just want to make it applicable
to us. Are we perfect angels? Are you a perfect
angel, sir? Your wife is a perfect angel, right?
Are you a perfect angel? Raise your hand if you're
a perfect angel forever hold your peace. You
want to raise your hand? Excuse me, how about
you? You graduate from Southern. Didn't they
make you a perfect angel? No. Even parents who
look at their child, look at their baby, she's
an angel. No, we're all born in sin. What point
am I trying to make here? What's this whole fuss
about? If Satan in heaven, in a perfect heaven,
deceived perfect angels, how much more he is
capable of deceiving us today in this sinful
world. Plus, he refined his skill of deception
for thousands of years. Just think of what I
call his tactics, psychological games. You know,
people come to university, UTC, and study psychology
for years. Then they want to finish their master's
in psychology two more years, get their master's,
PhD, maybe four more years. About ten years to
become PhD in psychology. Excuse me? Satan got
a major. His major is psychological games. It's
not four years. It's not six years. It's not
ten years. thousands of years to refine his specialty
in deception. I'm just telling you the reality.
He worked on Peter. He worked on Judas. He can
work on all of us. So what's the only answer?
What's our only hope? Our only hope? To cling
to Jesus for dear life. Every moment. That's
the only safety. Look what James said. What did
James say in James 4, 7? He said, therefore,
submit yourselves to Christ. That's the first
thing we do. Resist the devil and the devil will
flee from you. It's interesting how Satan loves
that verse by twisting it. He specializes in
twisting. You know what he says? The first you
do in the spiritual warfare is resist me. After
you resist me, then you can submit yourself.
Oh no, it's wrong. Like getting a kit, trying
to put together, you don't follow the right order.
You got things mixed up. You have to undo everything.
No, the first thing is we submit ourselves to
Christ. That's the first thing. If you start
resisting, you're going to be defeated. Your
wife works for a Tazutin, right? Do you work
for them too? Okay, that's okay. Let me ask you.
I mean, if Satan comes to attack you with his
skill of deception for thousands of years, and
if he was able to deceive perfect angels, and
you're not a perfect angel, sir, do you think
you're going to succeed by resisting him by yourself?
Absolutely not. Absolutely not. So the secret
here for victory is start by submitting yourself
to Christ. And you and Christ become one united
formidable front. And what happens when you become
united with Christ? Oh, the second step is resist
Satan. Who resists Satan now after you submit
to Christ? It's you and Christ united. Does that
make sense? Do you think Christ is strong enough
to defeat Satan? You think so? He's God. He defeats
Satan in heaven. He defeats him every way. So
if you want to be victorious, hang on to Jesus.
You say, well, how much do I resist? Ah, proportion
to your strength. That's only logical. Is Christ
stronger than you? By exceedingly stronger. Therefore,
you go along for the ride. But Jesus does most
of the resisting. And what does James say at
the end of that? He says, then Satan will flee
from you. As I counsel a lot of Christians, many
of them are fleeing from Satan. Afraid and fleeing
from Satan. It's high time for Satan. To flee.
For a change. There's a statement in the book,
Desire of Ages, commenting on this, that says,
Satan trembles. Not just flees, he trembles.
What does it mean to tremble? To shake in your
boots, right? Satan not only flees, he trembles
and flees before the weakest soul who finds refuge
in the mighty name of Jesus. The weakest soul.
Do you feel you're the weakest soul? Does this
apply to you? Compared to Jesus' strength, you
are the weakest soul. But Jesus rejoices. In
helping the weakest. Like Paul said. We are strong.
In Christ. When we realize our weakness. Our
weakness becomes strength in Jesus. I'm trying
to really make sense to you. Does that make sense?
Do you resonate with me? I mean. I grew up on
a farm. Orchards. Olive trees. pomegranates and
figs and grapes. My dad was building a wall to
divide the land to terraces. And I was just like
four years old. Four. Much younger than now,
but I never forget that experience. Some things
should be learned. They remember all their lives.
Makes an impression on them. Let's make good
impressions on our children at last. Here, my
dad was... putting these stones on top of each
other. He came to the end of building this wall.
And there's a big stone left. And he said, I
want to put this big stone on top. Maybe the
big stone was bigger than me. I don't know. It
was big to me. He said, my son, I need you to
help me. You got to have confidence in people.
I need you to help me. What can I do, Daddy?
He said, see, I'm putting my hands under that
rock. Can you please come down and put your hands
under the rock? Because I want you to help me
lift it to the top. I'm using illustrations that
should make logic to you. And that is what? Oh,
this rock kept lifting up and up. And I said,
wow. Am I that strong? He came to the top of
the wall. He said, thank you, son, for helping
me lift that rock. I come back to you, sir. I
come back to you. To what extent I lifted that
heavy rock? Maybe a pound. Maybe less. You're
a little child, maybe. It weighed at least 50
pounds. Who did most of the lifting? My dad.
Why? Because my dad was stronger than me. And
Jesus is stronger than you or me or anybody.
So it's logical. He lifts the heavy weights.
That's why he's described as the burden bearer.
So many people I meet in council, they allow
these burdens to crush them. I say, why don't
we go to the burden bearer? He is disappointed
when we don't listen to his invitation. Come
unto me, O that labor. I'll give you rest. I
can lift these burdens off your shoulders. I
have big enough shoulders to deal with all these
burdens. Satan, when we trust Jesus, when we
submit to Christ, he is... It's almost two. It's
so true, but people have to believe and practice.
Satan will tremble and flee before. Before who?
Jesus? Of course he does. No, no. Before the
weakest soul who is united with Jesus. We share
in Christ's destiny, life. And strength. Who
finds refuge in the mighty name of Jesus? Refuge.
We live in a world where we need to have refuge.
What's your refuge today? Is it friends? Or is
it your best friend Jesus? I'm telling you, in
these last days, we must have Jesus as our best
refuge. You know, people can share. can show
they care about you. Care, quote, unquote. But
Jesus not only cares, he can do something about
the situation. Jesus, our best friend, what a
friend we have in Jesus, he cares and he can.
Going back to the, I'm not using my notes. I'm
speaking from my heart. Going back, I just remembered,
I said something coming to this country in 1967.
I attended an Adventist academy in Portland,
Oregon. My first day in school. New culture,
new language, new friends. I remember my U .S.
history professor. I still remember him. I remember
his name. Mr. Jack Heisler. Jack Heisler. He
passed away already. He was my U .S. history
professor. And I sat on the second pew. The second
row of chairs. In front of me, the first set
of chairs, there was a senior like me, fellow
student, big guy. You know, in my part of the
world, I was kind of okay, kind of average. I
was average in my head. In America, I'm short.
It really humbles you. And so that's why when
I have students, especially young ladies who
are like 5 feet or 4, 11, I spend time talking
to them. I said, no, I appreciate talking to
you. Why? I said, because that's the only time
I feel tall. In heaven, we'll be made perfect,
okay? But my point is, here you have an experience
that lasts forever. Always remember that. Why?
Because this student here, about six foot six,
football player, with big boots. He sat here,
and I don't know, this teacher. He never really
walked around like, I cannot sit behind my desk
to teach. Come on, you have to move around. And
so what did this student do? So the teacher,
Mr. Heiss, was sitting right there in his chair
behind his desk. And this student put his boots,
wrapped them up on that desk. And to be honest
with you, sitting behind him, The face of the
teacher is blocked. His boots block the face
of the teacher. I don't know. Do you think it's
a good idea to do that? To me, it wasn't. To
me, it wasn't a good idea. Because to me, in
my culture, the culture of Jesus, what he was
saying to his teacher, your face, the most noble
thing about you, the most sacred thing about
you, is not worthy of my... Filthy feet, the
worst thing about me. I know, it didn't mean
it that way. No, it didn't mean it that way.
I still don't think it's a good idea. I mean,
but it was all fun. It's okay. I'm just relaxing,
stretching. The teacher didn't seem to mind.
And that's the point I want to make here. And
that is... When you come to Jesus with the worst
thing about you. The worst thing about you. What's
the worst thing about you? Don't tell me. Tell
God. Right now, think about it. What's the worst
thing about your life? What's the worst sin?
What's the thing you're ashamed of the most?
Maybe your wife doesn't know about it. Maybe
your husband doesn't know about it. Nobody knows
about it. And it's making you so, it makes you
feel so bad. You're ashamed to even tell God
about it. I mean, how long have you been feeling
this way? Are you planning to die with that feeling?
There's relief. Jesus, if he did that to Judas,
and I know none of you here want to sell Jesus
for a third piece of silver. What's the worst
thing about you? And Jesus would have washed
your feet. Can you imagine? Jesus would have
washed your feet. Like at the academy, we had
a week of prayer. I didn't have many friends
yet, so somebody came to wash my feet. Of course,
I was sitting in the chair. I wasn't on the rug.
And here I am washing my feet. I don't like when
we have the ordinance of humility and people
joke around. No, focus on something sacred. So
here I was sitting down and he came to wash my
feet. And the thought that crossed my mind. Still
remember that. If our living during the time
of Jesus. And even if I were Judas, as bad as
Judas, I would look down and see the head of
a man washing my feet and his tremendous love
penetrating my heart through and through, willing
to forgive any sin to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.
And I ask the question, would somebody please
tell me, who is this person washing my feet?
He is your God. He is the Son of God. He is Jesus
Christ. Wow. And I assure you, as he was willing
to do this for Judas, he was willing to do it
for you. So what's the worst thing about you?
I want to give you a moment right now to simply
think about it. It's coming to our thinking now.
It's sacred. It's a sacred thing that only God
maybe should know about. If you focus on it too
much, it might be depressing, but there's great
help on the way. And Jesus is telling you right
now, give that to me. I want my best. And Christ's
best is a lot, a lot, the most. The best, Christ's
best is a lot. I want to use my best to help
you at your worst. Do you believe with all your
heart that Christ's best can help every one of
us at our worst? Yes or no? Let me ask the question
again. Do you think Jesus' best can help you
at your worst? Amen. Let's bow our heads. how
fortunate we are to be associated with you. Perfect
love, perfect forgiveness. Right now as our hearts
are moved by that love. Judah's heart was moved
by that love. He almost repented. Dear Lord,
we don't want to be like that. Almost saved but
not saved. Even now, we offer you the worst about
us. You can read that from afar. You read our
hearts. Please, Lord, we submit our worst. To
your best. Forgive us. And help us. Never to
have any excuse. Saving face. Not being embarrassed.
This is nothing. Compared to being lost. Like
Paul said. All I have to go through is like.
trash, like rubbish. All the suffering of this
life is rubbish compared to salvation, to eternal
life. Help us to be spiritually smart. Make the
right decisions. May we submit ourselves to united
with you. And may Satan As we witnessed him together,
may Satan tremble and flee before the weakest
soul. That includes everybody here. Because we
choose to put our trust in that mighty name of
Jesus. Lord, Peter had problems. In some ways
more than Judas. Judas was more polished, more
educated, more refined, more classy. But the
secret about Peter, because the devil used him
too, was to keep trusting you, humble himself.
Hmm. And he taught us a lesson. Peter did. That
the greatest good work we can do is what? To
keep coming to Jesus regardless. Whatever it
is. I'm walking on water. Now I'm drowning. Lord,
save me. Peter, learn to come to you, no matter
what. And because I stuck it out with you, he
made it. May we stick it out with you. Not about
our perfection. No. Holding on to you for dear
life, saying, I won't let you go until you bless
me. Lord, I believe. Help me on my unbelief.
We can never perish. While we do this, we can
never perish. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name,
amen.