WEBVTT 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:12.720 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:17.760 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:21.039 Let's pray together. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:30.879 The demolish strongholds and everything that exalts itself above the knowledge of God. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:33.920 Sometimes God feels like we're overwhelmed. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.520 And those moments when we feel overwhelmed, remind us that we're surrounded. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:42.320 The psalmist said, as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people. 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:49.119 So Lord, uh, we we say with Elisha's servant that those who are for us are greater than those who are against us. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:53.840 And so, Lord, uh, open our eyes to see wonderful things in your law today. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:00.320 Not just spiritual truths, but but spiritual invitations and opportunities for us to flesh out what we say. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:09.280 So, Lord, leave an indelible impression today, this morning, uh, on our intellect and our affections, and do that from your word and by your spirit. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:13.840 We pray for this as your sons and daughters, and we ask for this in Jesus' name. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:15.760 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:16.239 Amen. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:16.959 You can have a seat. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.920 If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to the Gospel of John. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:21.840 If you don't have a Bible, there's one in your row. 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:24.400 I'm going to be reading off of page 898. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:26.400 Uh 808, John chapter 11. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:28.159 I'll start reading verse 45. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:33.359 If you're our guest today, uh, let me just remind you that we are uh there's an earring on the stage. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:35.359 Apparently somebody got too excited in worship. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:36.319 Put that right there. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:37.200 Uh do what? 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:37.680 Lindsay's. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:38.319 It's Lindsay's. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:39.519 I'll sell it on eBay. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:44.400 Uh anyway, uh, if you're a guest today, uh we take the Bible very seriously. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:46.079 You say, uh who doesn't? 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:47.599 Uh well, I'll let you figure that out. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:55.599 But we're preaching through the Gospel of John, uh, just verse by verse, because we believe the Bible's true, it's authoritative, and we believe it makes sense, okay? 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:00.480 And so today I want to talk to you about the inescapable enoughness of Jesus. 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:03.200 The inescapable enoughness of Jesus. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:05.120 You know, like enoughness is not a word. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:06.799 It is now because I just said it. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:09.439 Uh I just spoke it into existence right there. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:10.560 Uh, enoughness. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:12.639 Uh, and that'll make sense as we get into the text. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:15.520 So if you're if you're our guest, let me tell you what we're gonna do. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:16.639 I'm gonna read the Bible. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:23.919 I'm gonna read from verse 45 to the end of the chapter down about verse 57, and then I'm gonna come back and make five points right out of the Bible. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.039 And then at the end, we'll take some time just to think about what we've heard. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:32.240 We do not believe in religious guilt, manipulation, pressure, coercion. 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:34.159 I don't have a program I'm selling today. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.039 You don't get a set of ginsu nice if you come early. 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:38.560 Uh, none of that kind of stuff. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:50.560 We just kind of say, hey, take some space, some questions come up at the end on the screen for you to think about because the Bible uh is not just to be taught, it's to be experienced and to be lived, okay? 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:52.479 And we want to do our best in that. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:54.560 Sometimes we don't do so great. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:57.759 Uh uh but but but God doesn't kick us out and give up on us. 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:02.000 He says, hey, hey, let's learn from this and let's do differently next time, all right? 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:08.319 And so the inescapable enoughness of Jesus from John chapter 11, verse 45, the Bible says this. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:12.080 Many of the Jews, therefore, now give you the context before I start reading. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:26.639 Uh, Jesus has healed a blind guy in chapter 9, the guy that was blind from birth, and the religious people just freaked out, the religious people that were in charge, because Christianity, a relationship with God, will do things for you and in you that religion never could. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.879 Yes, you let it out, sister. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:33.360 Uh she's just squeaked, she's just beating her kids so she can leave church early. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:34.319 Don't fall for that. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:35.759 It's like I don't want to hear this. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:36.560 Enough of this. 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:37.199 That's not a word. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:38.639 Pinch the baby, we're leaving. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:40.080 Uh uh, anyway. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:45.599 Some of y'all are like, you're not a good man. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:50.800 I haven't preached in a couple of weeks, and so let me remember how to remember how to do this. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:54.960 Uh uh, Jesus heals a blind guy, and so everything in the Bible happens in a context. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:55.919 You need to understand this. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:02.080 He heals a blind guy, and they just go crazy because not only did he do that, because he did for them what the religious people never could. 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:08.639 And then he in chapter 11, this first part of this chapter, he raises a guy named Lazarus from the dead who's been dead for four days. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:10.560 And so now they are really stoked. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.639 They are just like, who do you think you are? 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:16.079 They're not just stoked, they're threatened, they're afraid. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:19.279 Because people are seeing what a relationship with God looks like. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:20.800 That's what Jesus models. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:29.279 It's just here's how to be intimately related to God, and they are freaking out because people are leaving their little religious gathering and they're going to Jesus because they want the real thing. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:31.279 John chapter 11, verse 45. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:34.800 Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary had seen what he did. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:36.560 By the way, ladies, this is free. 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:38.399 There's always a crowd around Mary. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:40.240 There's never a crowd around Martha. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:48.240 Martha was her sister, she was just a busybody, she's just a workaholic, always, and she's always just like, oh, just working for Jesus, just working for Jesus. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:51.279 Those people are not enjoyable, and people don't want to be around them. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:56.720 Mary showed up with a kind of a crazy look in her eye, kind of like, I've been making potato salad and hanging out with Jesus. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:57.680 Who wants to hear about that? 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:00.319 And women were like, Womp, yes. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:02.079 And so there's this big crowd. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:06.959 They've come with Mary and they'd seen what he did, and they believed in him. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:12.319 But some of them went to Jesus and told them what Jesus, to the Pharisees, and told them what Jesus had done. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:16.720 And so the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, What are we to do? 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:18.639 For this man performs many signs. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:25.120 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:36.720 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you understand that it is better for you that no that one man should die for the people, that the whole nation should perish. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:48.959 He did not say this of his own accord, but being a high the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:51.759 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:06:00.480 Jesus, therefore, no longer walked openly among the Jews, but he went from there to the region near the wilderness to a town called Iphraim, and there he stayed with his disciples. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:08.000 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:12.480 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, What do you think? 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:14.639 That he will not come to the feast at all? 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:22.800 Now the chief priests of the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know so that they might arrest him. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:27.279 Now, what do I mean when I say the inescapable enoughness of Jesus? 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:29.199 I'll let the Bible make this case. 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:31.120 There's five things I want to point to in the text. 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:34.399 And the first one is simply this is that Jesus is inescapable. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:36.160 Jesus is inescapable. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.879 The people here in this text are just like the people in this room. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:45.759 Some people believed in him, others just talked about him, others were threatened by him, and so they formulated a plan to stop him. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:53.439 If you read the verse, like verse verse four or five verses, verses 45 to 48, you'll see that the people saw what he did and believed in him. 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:59.199 Some of the people heard what he had done, and they went and told the Pharisees, the religious priests of the day. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:00.879 And then I love this. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:03.360 The council gets together, verse 47. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:07.519 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, What are we to do? 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:09.519 For this man performs many signs. 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:12.240 And if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:15.839 And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:17.040 We'll get to that in just a minute. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:20.319 But what I want you to see is that Jesus is inescapable. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:21.600 He is inescapable. 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:26.000 You may be in this room right now and thinking, this does not, this defies the laws of logic. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:27.199 I cannot agree with this. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:28.720 I have a scientific mind. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:29.600 That's great. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:35.360 You can say Jesus is non-existent, but you still have to face the fact that what are you going to do with him? 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:39.920 Some believed, some just tattled on Jesus, and some were threatened by him. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:43.600 And they said, Hey, we gotta we gotta formulate a plan to stop this guy. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:47.360 Now it's easy in this day and age to kind of go, oh, my God's a God of love. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:48.720 He would never threaten me. 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:51.040 If you hear anything I say today, hear this. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:52.319 Yes, he would. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:53.839 Yes, he would. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:55.759 Let me give you just a few examples. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:07:57.759 He threatens our sense of justice. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:00.079 You say, What do you mean, our sense of justice? 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:06.560 He ju he threatens our sense of justice because he invites us to believe that he will deal with our enemies better than we ever could. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.879 To not believe this is to say that I'm entitled to something that the Bible doesn't give me. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:17.120 I'm entitled to hold on to feelings towards my enemies that God drops towards me, his greatest enemy. 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:19.439 And so he threatens our sense of justice. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:23.759 Secondly, he threatens our sense of fairness, he threatens our sense of fairness. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:30.079 You look around, you watch evil people prosper, and yet we go on doing the right thing while nobody seems to notice. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.759 He threatens our impure motives when we think that by doing this, I'll get that. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:42.559 So we do this and we don't get that, and then we gotta ask ourselves, now what do you want to do? 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:48.240 See, he he's not safe, he's very threatening. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:54.080 And so, regardless of what you think or believe, you have to answer this question that this council of religious people had to answer. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:56.480 And it's simply this what are we to do? 00:08:56.639 --> 00:08:57.440 They didn't believe. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:00.080 You can sit in this room and go, I don't believe any of this. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:03.919 I think this is a colossal waste of time, not a problem. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:05.600 What are you going to do? 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:07.440 Because Jesus is inescapable. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:09.200 Let me give you an example from the Bible. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:13.039 Uh, later on in John's gospel and all the gospels, the gospel just means good news. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:21.600 It's these guys that walked with Jesus, hung out with Jesus, and after Jesus died, they recorded, hey, we want people to understand how this all went down. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:30.000 Towards the end of his life, he is um he goes to the cross, he gets, they trumped up some charges, they accused him falsely of doing things and had a trial. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:35.360 And they got that, they kept sending him for one magistrate, one judge for lack of a better word, to another one. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:37.440 Because they were like, we don't want to have anything to do with this. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:41.039 This thing is a this is a railroad job from the beginning. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:42.879 And so they seem to have got him Pilate. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:46.879 Pilate talks to Jesus a little bit and he realizes this guy is innocent. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:48.960 They just hate him and they want to kill him. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:52.960 And so Pilate's like, I don't want to be responsible for the death of an innocent man. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:10:02.399 So there was a custom of the day that at the time of Passover, they would release one criminal and just to say, hey, we're being merciful like God's merciful. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:05.519 Okay, we're overlooking his sins the way God overlooks our sins. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:09.360 And so he went to the jail and he got the biggest rapscallion he could find. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:14.399 I mean the meth head that steals from everybody in town to support his habit, got named Barabbas. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:15.840 And he stands him up before the crowd. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:17.039 The crowd is lathered up. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:21.759 They got torches, they're like, and Pilate thinks this is the way I'm gonna get out of this. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:23.600 I'm not gonna kill an innocent man. 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:32.159 I'm gonna get this scoundrel named Barabbas, and I'm gonna say, hey, in keeping with the custom of releasing a criminal this time of year to demonstrate my mercy, I will release one of these men. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:33.759 Who would you want me to release to you? 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:36.960 Do you want me to release Jesus or you want me to release Barabbas? 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:38.240 And the crowd went crazy. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:42.080 They said, Give us Barabbas! And Pilate was like, dang. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:43.600 Uh-oh. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:47.519 You ever have a plan and all of a sudden you realize your plan's not working? 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:51.039 He is on the horns of a dilemma here, beloved. 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:55.200 He is just like, uh, uh, and then he he utters this great question. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:57.200 This is why Jesus is inescapable. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:01.759 He looks at the crowd and he says, Then what shall we do with Jesus who's called the Christ? 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:03.759 You see, he's inescapable. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:10.480 You can deny him, you can doubt him, you can, but you're going to have to reckon with him in this life or in the one to come. 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:15.519 So we start this morning with the Bible just kind of reminding us that Jesus is inescapable. 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:21.360 Secondly, here's what the Bible tells us political solutions without spiritual renewal never changes a nation. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:22.480 That's a lot. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:23.840 So let me say it again. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:29.200 Political solutions without spiritual renewal never changes a nation. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:30.399 You say, Where do you get that? 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:32.000 Look at verse 48 in the Bible. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:35.360 I don't want you to think I made this up and just pulled this out of thin air. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:38.159 The council ends in 47. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:39.279 They say, What are we to do? 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:40.960 This man performs many signs. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:42.000 Verse 48. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:45.039 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:48.960 And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:12:01.440 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, he said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you understand that it's better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:08.639 He did not say this of his own accord, but being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:13.919 Now, when I say political solutions without spiritual renewal never changes the nation, here's what I mean. 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:15.200 People disagree. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:16.480 They did it in the Bible. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:18.960 We do it nowadays, we act like this is all sudden new. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:20.639 We come up with some new hidden agenda. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:21.919 It's always been this way. 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:28.159 People disagree with and they doubt the truth of Jesus, not based on the merit of their argument or logic. 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:33.039 They doubt it and they deny it because of what it will mean for them and their preferred lifestyle. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:34.399 These men are no different. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:45.440 They said, hey, if Jesus keeps getting more popular, the Romans are going to come and take away our place, the temple, where we're in charge, of the rules about how you get right with God and our nation, the Jewish nation. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:47.120 So this is not a spiritual decision. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.480 Caiaphas, he's a leader of an institutional organization. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:51.759 He wants to protect us. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:55.519 So this is not a spiritual decision, it's a political decision. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:59.120 And so the problem is that the nation failed anyway. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:00.399 It was in 8070. 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:02.960 Jerusalem was sacked and just overrun. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:07.519 The nation failed anyway, and it failed for the same reasons that all other nations failed. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:11.919 Because the problem is moral and spiritual, not political. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:13.440 Let me say that again. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:17.039 Now, I'm not saying because some of you are kind of like, well, politics is important. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:19.759 I think to some degrees, politics is important. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.240 I don't think it's ever going to be ultimate. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:30.240 If politics and politicians are ultimate for you, uh, this is going to be a hard slog because here's a question I want you to think about. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:34.879 Uh, when I say political solutions without spiritual renewal never changes a nation. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:36.000 Uh, here's a question. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:40.720 What if we took all the money that we spent on politics and we put it and put it to spiritual use? 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:43.600 You ever think like that? 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:45.200 This is what I do in my spare time. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:48.159 My friends that I play golf with, a bunch of cheating liars. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:51.200 They're like, hey, what's it like working one day a week? 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:56.480 And this thought goes through my head, hey God, can I just smash him in the face with a seven iron? 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:57.600 Uh and God says no. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:13:58.639 I'm like, oh, okay. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:07.440 Uh so anyway, a couple weeks ago when I'm studying, getting ready for this, thinking about it, I was just like, so I went online and I just went to the Center for Political Reform and blah, blah, blah. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:19.600 And in the 2018 election cycle alone, that means like November of last year, uh, five months ago, however long, in that election cycle, midterm elections, here's how much money was spent. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:21.360 The Democratic Party, I mean, raised. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:28.879 The Democratic Party raised$954,729,$729,181. 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:35.360 The Republicans,$993,963,461. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:40.159 And then there's the Democratic and the Republican National Committee, they raised extra. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:45.039 The Democratic and Republican Congressional Committee, they raised another$296 million. 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:50.720 The Democratic and the Republican Senatorial Committee, they uh and so it this is what a loser I am. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:54.639 I'm in my house trying, I don't have a calculator that can add all that up. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:57.440 So I got my iPhone, I thought the iPhone can do everything. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.639 I started the iPhone started putting E's in there instead of numbers. 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:03.039 And I was like, where's a teenager that can explain this to me? 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:05.039 What is happening to my phone? 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:08.240 And then this thought went across my mind. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:11.679 What if you were in charge of whatever that adds up to? 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:13.919 This is just one year, one election cycle. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:15.840 This is not in the history of humanity. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:17.919 This is not a presidential election. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:19.919 It's worse than a presidential election year. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:26.320 2020, we will spend off the charts billions of dollars to get the right person in the White House. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:28.399 And here's here's here's the way I think about it. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:29.759 Let's just take one of the numbers. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.120 How about Republican Party? 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:34.879 993,963,461. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:43.440 People gave of their own free will that money so they could eat a lukewarm bad steak and get their picture taken with their favorite politician at some fundraiser. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:45.279 What if you just took that money alone? 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:47.200 What would you do with that kind of money? 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:49.279 Would you go to Walmart and get on the PA? 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.799 Attention, Walmart shoppers, everything's free, free, free, free. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:55.759 You know what I'd do? 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:00.559 I'd go down to MD Anderson in the Med Center and stand by the billing department. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:05.919 And people would come up, men and women would come up sobbing, begging for mercy, and I'd go, hey folks, don't worry about it. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:09.679 Oh, but our bill's$963,000. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:12.639 I said, well, I got$963 million. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:15.120 And ain't no step for a stepper. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:16.799 Paid in full. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:18.639 Go enjoy your kid. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:20.080 Let me ask you a question. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:24.159 When you get to heaven, which one of those uses of that money is God going to recognize? 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:30.000 It was all given to politicians and politics, or it was used to alleviate poverty and change the culture around you? 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:37.200 I laid in bed that night and I just kept thinking because I was like, oh, the Democrats, I got 954 million. 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:38.639 I want that too, God. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:42.879 You ever ask yourself how much money God can trust you with? 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.600 I'd love to God down here and went, not really. 00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:56.720 Because it's easy to look around and kind of go, well, you rich baby, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:01.600 Ask God, ask, maybe sometime today, just ask God, hey God, how much money do you think you can trust me with? 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:06.720 Because it's just, I just, here, here, again, here's the point. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:10.319 Political solutions without spiritual renewal never changes a nation. 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:11.920 I'm not saying politics is bad. 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:13.759 I'm saying politics is not ultimate. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:17.039 You can email me all you want to, you're not going to change my mind. 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:22.480 Politics and politicians, especially, are not the answer to our problem, beloved. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.839 And I'm not saying we shouldn't vote, we shouldn't do our civic duty. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:35.359 I am saying unapologetically and unequivocally that if your hope is in people to change a nation and not God, you're betting on the wrong horse. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:40.240 Third thing the Bible tells us is simply this: in the big picture, God uses little people. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:42.720 In the big picture, God uses little people. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:45.680 Back to verse 49, this guy Caiaphas, but one of them. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:48.079 You say, What do you mean he uses uh little people? 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:49.759 I'm not making light of him. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:56.319 I just think there's people in our lives that if we're not careful, they feel so insignificant or so frustrating that we dismiss them. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:05.599 And those are the very people that God is using to reveal to you something about you that needs to be addressed, matured, tweaked, changed, repented of. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:07.599 You say, I don't know what you mean. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:20.799 God works on such a big scale that he uses people in ways that they don't even understand, but we need to recognize because it changes the way you view all the people in your life that you've kind of said, hey, that person doesn't really matter. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:22.720 Here, verse 49 again. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:36.000 Having said all that, one of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, said, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you understand that it's better for you that one man should die for the people, that the whole nation should perish. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:41.680 He did not say this of his own accord, but being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:51.519 Here's what just happened: through the mouth of an insecure religious politician, God introduces the idea of substitutionary atonement into the dialogue. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:19:00.480 It is the first time in John's gospel that the idea that Jesus is gonna die for the sins of the world is talked about by somebody besides Jesus. 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:02.079 It just comes right out. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:06.160 That's why the Bible says in verse 51, he did not say this of his own accord. 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:06.559 Why? 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:10.799 Because God's using this man on a scale that he does not understand. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:19.599 You gotta ask yourself this morning who is God using in your life right now to teach you things about yourself, to reveal things, areas of your life that need working on. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:21.599 Does that make sense to anybody besides me? 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:22.960 I'll go first. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:24.160 Thank you back there in the back. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:24.880 I'll go first. 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:26.960 Yesterday was a crazy full day for me. 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:33.440 Had two funerals, beautiful, evocative, just incredibly just moving and powerful. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:35.680 At the end of the second one, I am done. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:36.720 I am fried. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:37.519 My wife's with me. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:38.400 We're going to home. 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:39.759 She says, Hey, I didn't have time to cook. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:40.880 We'll pick up something. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:43.920 We text our 15-year-old, hey, what would bless you for dinner? 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:44.799 Chick-fil-A. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:45.599 Imagine that. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:47.440 And so we go to Chick-fil-A. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:50.880 They are, I don't know if you know, they're working on the Chick-fil-A up here at Greywood. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:52.400 It's closed on Saturday. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:57.519 You would have thought Jesus had a girlfriend when we texted her and said, Chick-fil-A is closed. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:58.880 Oh my gosh, it's Saturday. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:19:59.440 No, it's not. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:00.240 Yeah, they're working on it. 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:01.200 They're expanding it. 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:02.319 Okay, it's getting bigger. 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:02.960 That's okay. 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:07.279 And she goes, How about go next door to Whataburger and just get me, you know, chicken nuggets and fries? 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:08.079 Okay, great. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:10.240 So we pulled up, nobody in the line at Whataburger. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:11.759 I thought, oh, favors on me. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.119 I'm gonna get home to my nap, get up about 9:30, look over my notes. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.160 This will be great. 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:19.839 Ordered and turned a corner, and there's two lanes of vehicles waiting. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:22.000 And I was like, all right, they've been here. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:23.279 This is fast food. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:24.319 This is coming. 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:27.839 So after waiting about five minutes, they come and say, sir, could you pull up a little bit? 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:28.480 So I pulled up. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:30.079 They get your money at that first window. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:33.519 And then they put you in the queue like you're at the airport waiting to take off. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:38.319 And so I'm just kind of sitting there and I'm thinking five minutes, seven minutes, eleven minutes. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:39.359 Not that I'm watching. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:45.519 My wife, she's got her phone out, she's checking her Facebook, and oh, we have 238 women coming to the women's retreat. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:46.559 Isn't God good? 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.160 And I'm like the space shuttle. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:50.640 I'm about we're about to launch, okay? 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:52.559 We done fired the rockets. 00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:57.359 18 minutes, I'm starting to lose my peripheral vision. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:00.000 22 minutes. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:00.880 I'm not kidding. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:02.000 22 minutes. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:07.039 This teenager in an orange shirt walks up to me and says, Hey sir, would you mind pulling up? 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:08.720 And I slammed my truck and parked. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:11.200 I said, I ain't moving until you bring me that chicken. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:16.799 And he was like, they're used to everyone being like sheeple and people just, yes, I will move. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:17.599 And he goes, Excuse me. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:19.119 I said, I didn't cuss. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:20.160 I don't raise my voice. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:20.880 I don't do that. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:24.319 I just, I'm like, my wife sitting there and she goes, You're this is embarrassing. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:25.839 And I went, Yeah, this is embarrassing. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:27.759 She goes, No, you're embarrassing. 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:32.400 I'm like, and the guy's kind of like thinking she's funny. 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:33.680 I'm like, no, she's not funny. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:34.720 I may be funny. 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:35.680 No, listen to her. 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:38.640 And he's like, I said, hey man, I'm not being a jerk. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:42.640 I'm just protecting you from disappointing more customers like you've disappointed me. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:49.519 So, and I said, Yeah, I'm not pulling up. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:52.240 You bring me my chicken and I'll move. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:54.559 Until then, I ain't moving. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:58.559 Okay. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:21:59.759 Dude, walk in. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.920 Walked right back out with my chicken. 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:07.039 I had the bag, and my wife's like, oh Lord, don't reward this. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.000 23 minutes now. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:11.440 Took one minute. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:12.640 They gotta understand. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:14.319 Kid, don't play. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:21.279 Drove home, took me a nap, got up at 9:30 last night, just sat down and read, looked over my notes. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.200 I was making sure, hey, does this make sense? 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:24.079 Does it make sense? 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:26.640 Was doing good till I got to point number three. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:29.200 In the big picture, God uses little people. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:32.799 And I was like, oh yeah, yeah. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:34.400 Well, how can I apply that? 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:37.839 And the voice said, to yourself for starters. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:41.680 And I was like, Lord, the devil's trying to tempt me. 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:42.640 What's going on here? 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:48.640 And he's like, hey, do you, are you okay living in a world where I'm in charge, or do you have to be in charge? 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:57.519 I know none of you are this way, but when I see people not doing their job very well, I gotta help them. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:03.680 Because in the store, there were two girls on break, sitting there, they were done eating, sitting there with their cell phones laughing. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:05.200 Showing each other stuff. 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:09.680 And I said to the guy, hey, how about tell those girls to get back on the clock and let's get this food going? 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:10.799 We got two lines of traffic. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:13.039 He said, Sir, we're wrapped around the building because you won't pull up. 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:14.640 Sounds like a personal problem. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:19.599 All I want is six chicken nuggets and some fries. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:21.039 And I'll pull off. 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:22.079