Free!

Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would work mightily in our hearts and our minds, our wills, our affections as we open your word.

Father, we thank you that as Jesus becomes the Savior of our lives and as he becomes Lord of more and more of our lives, that you build within us a deep inner freedom.

Father, we thank you for this mighty work of your Holy Spirit in our lives.

So, Father, pour out the Holy Spirit now and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Please be seated.

Just want to sort of begin by asking for your prayers for me.

You know, I really do know how hard it is sometimes just to share about Jesus.

Maybe I'm way more sensitive to what people think about me than you folks are.

But just yesterday, I was in a Starbucks and I was working on my sermon.

I had this book out with my pen and I kept staring off into space and I was praying and I was having a hard time trying to put my sermon together.

But there's this couple that I'd never talked to before.

They were a bit older than me and they just, everything about them just said, these are two people that were probably university professors, just very urbane, educated, competent people.

But just somehow or another, from the way they dressed to the way they carried themselves.

And I'd seen them there quite a few times over the years.

I'd never talked to them.

And yesterday, after I'd been working away at my sermon for about an hour and a half, we got into a conversation.

And one of the very first things they asked me is if I was working on a speech.

Now, here's where I'm asking for your prayer.

I have to say that within myself, I paused and I almost felt like saying yes.

But I didn't want to say I was working on a sermon.

This isn't George at his best.

This is George as a sinner.

And I actually, it felt like a long time, but it was probably only a fraction of a second that went through my mind was, I'd like to really just sort of feel like I'm at one with these people, you know, urbane, educated, you know, whatever.

But, you know, probably in heaven I'll find out that one of you were praying for me at that exact moment.

But I said, well, actually, I'm not working on a speech.

I'm a pastor and I'm working on a sermon.

And that ended up bringing about a conversation we had for about 20 minutes.

But here's the other thing about that, which is so funny.

And so on one hand, I ask for your prayers because I'm a sinful, fallen human being.

And it's easy to just want to try to curry favor with people rather than bearing witness to Jesus.

You know, the funny thing, of course, is that we didn't have a bad conversation.

They didn't say, oh, well, you're really stupid.

I'm not going to talk to you.

We actually had a very good conversation for 20 minutes.

But here's the other funny thing about it.

That just before, but probably about five minutes before I prayed to them, I actually wrote down in my book two prayer requests because I was having a hard time.

I wrote down, Lord, how do I begin my sermon?

And the second thing is, Lord, how do I connect this sermon, this topic to Christians and non-Christians?

And five minutes later, I had my conversation with these two non-Christians.

It was only afterwards that I thought to myself, God answered my prayer in five minutes.

Especially because, and this is the last part about the story, because I actually probably didn't do a very good job talking to them.

It was one of those cases where afterwards I thought of 23 better things I could have said.

But, you know, I did my best because they asked me what my sermon was going to be on.

And I didn't do a very good job of answering it, partially because I was still trying to put things together in my mind.

But one of the things which we talked about, the three of us, was something which, in fact, has troubled me at a certain time in my life.

And I know troubles many Christians.

We got into a conversation about whether or not people only believe what they believe because that's what they were raised with.

Like, basically, they said to me, George, don't you think that if you're raised as a Christian, you become a Christian?

Like, people, if you're raised as a Buddhist, you become a Buddhist.

If you're raised as a Hindu, you become a Hindu.

And we had a bit of a conversation around that.

But that very, very topic is actually one of the main things that the gospel text, which we're going to look at, addresses.

Not in those exact terms, but it talks, in fact, it's a scripture text which talks about the importance of human freedom.

And the fact is that sometimes people have the possibility to use their freedom in a way which leads them towards truth.

And sometimes we use our freedom in a way which leads us away from truth.

But it's, in fact, actually essential to how God relates to us.

This is what I'm saying to you.

I was more like blah, blah, blah with them.

So one of the things we can do for each other is just pray that when God opens doors to talk about,

just bear witness that we're followers of Jesus, that we walk through that door rather than walk away from that door.

And that we pray for each other that we can do a good job in talking.

But also that we just pray for each other to know that if we don't do a good job, it's not the end of the world.

Life goes on.

God is still God.

But how does this text actually address this topic of freedom?

So if you get your Bibles and turn to John chapter 11,

John 11 · chapter mention

John chapter 11, verse 45, it's actually sort of seen in a sense in the shadow of the text.

John 11:45

It's not what the text actually show.

On one level it shows, well, let's just look and see.

It's a very, very interesting text.

It's John chapter 11, verse 45.

John 11:45

And as I explained a little bit earlier, what's just gone before this is that Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead.

And if you go back on your own and read the story,

and one of the things that can be good is to print the Bible text out sometimes.

One of the things I actually do every week before I preach is I handwrite the scripture text out.

Because if you handwrite the scripture text out, it helps you to be more present with the text.

And then afterwards I do things, if you look in my notes,

I circle things with different colors and stuff like that to notice them.

And one of the things that's interesting is if you look at the scripture text and just circle all the times it gives you some indication that Lazarus is dead,

you'll see I think some 20 times in the 45 verses in different ways it emphasizes that Lazarus is dead.

And it emphasizes the miracle-ness of the miracle.

Miracle-ness isn't a word, but I just, you know what I mean.

It emphasizes the miracle, even to the point that Lazarus is buried in a cave with a stone rolled on top of it that takes several people to move.

The fact that he comes out with the cloth over his face, that even if he had been in a swoon,

the cloth would have suffocated him and he would have died.

And so it emphasizes the deadness of Lazarus.

And one of the things which is very interesting in the text is that the way that circumstances work,

there's a fairly large number of people who are there.

The miracle happens just two miles outside of Jerusalem.

So many people from Jerusalem have come.

And not only are there a large number of people there for the miracle,

but the miracle is witnessed by friend and foe of Jesus,

by people like Mary and Martha who love Jesus.

They don't fully understand who he is or what he can do, but they love Jesus.

They're Jesus people.

And it's also witnessed by a lot of people who are anybody but Jesus people,

anti-Jesus people.

And both types of groups are all there for the miracle.

And so this spectacular miracle happens.

A man who's been dead for four days,

Jesus brings him back to life.

So what is the response to the miracle?

Well, here's where we start to get into the issue of human freedom.

Like how do people respond to this very, very powerful miracle?

Well, this is what the text begins with in verse 45.

Many of the Jewish people, therefore, who had come with Mary

and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Many did, but not all of them.

Verse 46,

But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

Now just pause there.

They didn't, the but which is there, it's a, sorry, I love saying this.

It's a big but.

And it's a, it does, they don't go to the, they don't go to these people and say,

wow, you guys are going to believe Jesus too after this.

No, they know that these are the people who hate Jesus.

And they go to cause Jesus trouble.

Like it's really interesting.

They use their freedom to go out of the way to cause Jesus trouble.

They're not even indifferent.

They want to have Jesus get in trouble.

And so how do the people react?

Verse 47,

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council.

And just sort of pause there.

The actual word in the original language is Sanhedrin.

And that means this is a very special council.

And there's nothing really like it in Canada.

So just try to imagine that in Canada, if Canada was sort of at the very highest level of ruling Canada,

you had a group of, in this particular case, only men, a group of men that's both the Supreme Court

and also the cabinet and also the head of the police forces

and also the head of the religious institution

and also the top faculty, Université de Montréal and McGill and University of Toronto and UBC.

So you have the top academics, the top lawyers, the top cops, the top politicians,

all in one group to govern the country.

And that's who's gathered.

There's nothing like it in Canada.

We separate these powers.

But in that time, they were all one.

And so just, we'll read that verse 47 again.

So that's who's gathered.

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, the Sanhedrin,

and said,

What are we to do?

For this man performs many signs.

Isn't that interesting?

They don't say,

This guy is the best magician I've ever come across.

He keeps fooling people.

They don't say,

Listen, this is the best drug dealer that we've ever come across.

He keeps giving people magic mushrooms and they're having these hallucinations.

He's the best trickster.

He's the best fraudster.

No, they don't say any of those things.

They say,

This guy's performing miracles.

This guy is performing miracles.

That's 47.

48.

If we let him go on like this,

Isn't that sort of funny?

As if God said,

I'm not going to perform any miracles there unless I have the permission of the Sanhedrin.

No, that's not how it worked.

It would be as if the Trudeau government,

or any government,

it doesn't matter who the government is,

or the next province of Ontario,

so it doesn't look like I'm playing political favorites.

They said,

No miracles by God are allowed in this province unless it's passed by the legislature.

What?

Like, that's just stupid.

Anyway, but that's how they're thinking.

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.

That's their worry.

And the word place here has sort of a double meaning.

On one hand, it means the temple.

On the other hand, it means our place.

Like us being the Sanhedrin,

us being in control,

us being in power.

And they say,

Listen, Jesus is performing all of these miracles.

We've got to fight against these miracles.

We've got to stop the miracles.

And if we don't stop the miracles,

Rome is going to destroy our nation,

the temple is going to be destroyed,

and we're going to lose our place.

So, verse 49,

one of them, Caiaphas,

who was high priest that year,

and by the way,

Caiaphas is known to historians.

He was the longest serving high priest of the first century.

He served from A.D. 18 to A.D. 36.

He's known outside of the Bible.

It's one of the many ways

that we see that this biography of Jesus

is historical

by their proper use of historical locations and names.

Verse 49 again,

But one of them, Caiaphas,

who was high priest that year,

said to them,

You know nothing at all.

In other words,

you guys can't think.

You're stupid.

Nor do you understand

that it is better for you

that one man should die for the people,

not that the whole nation should perish.

And in verse 51,

he did not say this.

Now, this is John speaking.

John, the writer of the Gospel,

says he did not say this.

That's Caiaphas.

Did not say this of his own accord.

But being high priest that year,

he prophesied

that Jesus would die for the nation,

and not for the nation only,

but also to gather into one

the children of God

who were scattered abroad,

so that from that day on,

they made plans

to put Jesus to death.

Now,

this is an odd story.

We're going to read some more of it,

obviously, in a moment.

But what's up

with Caiaphas

actually being able to prophesy?

Like, what's up with that?

How does that make any sense?

Caiaphas, Caiaphas,

is an envious,

power-hungry,

unjust,

manipulative,

insulting,

murderous man.

And he gets to prophesy?

Like, what's up with that?

Like,

like, what's up with that?

Is, is, is,

and this is what troubling,

if you think about it for a second,

for many people,

when they,

they think about that,

they go,

there seems to be like,

there's two types of possibilities.

One possibility is,

and this,

this feeds into the fear

that many people in our culture

have about Christianity,

is that God somehow

is rewarding him

for his evil behavior

to be,

to make him

able to prophesy.

Or is it

that God just sort of

all of a sudden

takes Caiaphas,

and Caiaphas is going around,

and all of a sudden,

Caiaphas is making his plans,

and all of a sudden,

God just grabs Caiaphas

by the head,

and overwhelms Caiaphas,

and Caiaphas,

against his will,

says the words

that God wants him to say.

Is that what's happening

here in this story?

What's up?

Well, Andrew,

hopefully you got that

I changed my points.

Did you get that?

We're going to find out.

Yes.

Thank you, Andrew.

So here's the first thing.

God works through human freedom.

God works through human freedom.

The fact of the matter is,

is that Caiaphas is

an envious, unjust,

murderous,

power-hungry,

high priest.

That's what he is.

And the fact of the matter is,

is that what he said

is 100% from Caiaphas.

But here's the other thing about it.

It's also 100% from God.

And that's what's a little bit

puzzling to people.

You see, what it is,

is that God never,

many of the fears that we have

about getting close to Jesus

are really fears

about getting close to the devil.

It's lies that the devil tells us.

And he tells us lies

which speak very deeply

to our own heart

and our desire for power.

And the devil tells us these lies

about God.

God.

But really,

really what he's making us afraid of

isn't,

it's funny,

he's,

the devil is making us

sort of trust the devil

and worry that God

is like the devil

even as we trust the devil.

It's a very,

very powerful type of delusion

that the devil works in us.

That somehow or another

if we get close to God,

if we get close to Jesus,

if he becomes more and more

the Lord of our lives,

that somehow God

will overwhelm us

and take away our freedom.

But God works through human freedom.

It's in fact,

as we get closer to evil,

it's as we get closer to the devil

that our freedom is overwhelmed.

You've heard me use this example

many times

and there's lots of different ways

to put it,

but it's still a very,

very good analogy.

If you think about,

if you've ever been to a room

of drunk people,

like people who are just

really,

really,

really drunk,

the drunkenness

overwhelms

their individuality

and their uniqueness.

It's hard to distinguish

between four drunk men.

When they're sober,

you might find that one,

in fact,

is really good at badminton.

One is really handy.

One can tell limericks.

One is really filled with jokes.

But as the alcohol overwhelms them,

it overwhelms them

and removes their uniqueness.

If you see four people

watching pornography,

if you were to videotape

four people deeply immersed

in pornography on their computer,

what you see is

you see the effect

of the pornography

reducing their differences

in their uniqueness

as they become slack-jawed

and empty

and overwhelmed

with lust.

That sin always

makes us less ourselves

and lowers us

to some type of

lower common denominator.

And you can go through

all of the sins,

whether it's anger,

whether it's pride,

that in fact

it always overwhelms.

And what we see here

in this particular text,

in the original language

in verse 51,

it says,

he,

that's Caiaphas,

did not say this

of his own accord.

But being high priest

that year,

he prophesied

that Jesus would die

for the nation.

And in the original language,

it says that

he didn't say this

from himself.

And what it means is

it's not that

the words

we have,

Jesus must die,

that came from himself,

but the prophecy

didn't come from himself.

So what happens

is that God

oversees,

Caiaphas is completely

and utterly free,

100% free,

but God,

in a sense,

uses Caiaphas' freedom

to see that the words

that he wants

to have spoken

are spoken.

But Caiaphas is 100% free

all the way through.

But some of you might say,

well, George,

what's up with that?

I thought you said

that the Bible

was inspired.

And now you're sort of saying,

I don't know

what you're saying, George.

You're saying that

a murderous,

power-hungry,

envious man

can say that

and they're free

and somehow

the right words come

and that doesn't seem

to make any sense.

Well, if you could put up

the next point, Andrew,

here's the thing

which is important

for us to remember.

It's the words

that are inspired,

not the person.

The words that are inspired,

not the person.

That's why

in the New Testament

we have

pagan poets

who are quoted.

We have

unjust judges

which are quoted.

And if you read

the Old Testament,

a donkey

is given the ability

to speak.

Now, you see,

if it was

that the individual

was somehow inspired,

not the words,

it would mean

that every time

that donkey said,

eah, eah, eah,

we'd have to have it

in the Bible.

It would mean

that every single word

that Caiaphas said

would have to be

in the Bible.

But it's not

that the individual

is that there's

something special

about the individual.

I've shared this analogy,

I'll say it again.

If they find,

if archaeologists

find another letter

by Paul,

and they can tell

that it says,

I, Paul,

the apostle,

and you can tell

that it's from Paul,

it would be a very

great interest

to scholars,

but it wouldn't

go in the Bible.

Why wouldn't it

go into the Bible?

Well, because Paul

was not an inspired individual.

It wasn't that

everything that Paul said

had to go in the Bible.

Out of the hundreds

of thousands of words

that Paul said

throughout his life,

only some of them

were the words

that God wanted

to have spoken

and then written down

and then recognized

as his

and then preserved

so that we have them today.

So that's why it is,

it's this,

it's the words

which are inspired.

These are from God.

It's not that the individuals

have some special power

of inspiration.

So it is with Caiaphas.

Caiaphas spoke

out of his own

evil, murderous heart.

But at the same time,

what he said

completely and utterly

of his own,

God used his words

to be a prophecy,

to be recognized

that Jesus was not

just dying for himself,

but that he was dying

not for the Jewish people

and for any person

in any people group

who would put their faith

and trust in him.

Now,

why is it

that,

but,

one of the things

then that people

might say,

well George,

I don't know,

you said that the,

that God is concerned

with our freedom,

but surely

if,

if God

has these words

words

that are his,

if you really believe

that these words

are God's,

doesn't that sort of

reduce our freedom?

Like,

doesn't that sort of

stand against us

in some way?

Like,

how can we really

be free

if like when Ken,

Ken just wrote,

read the Ten Commandments

just a little while ago,

you know,

you shall not do this,

you shall not do this,

you shall do this,

like if,

how is it,

that doesn't make

any sense,

George,

that if God

revealed himself

in words

that somehow

or another

were free?

But if you say that

or if you're thinking

about that,

you don't understand

what freedom is like

and you don't understand,

well,

here's the thing,

one of the things,

one of the fears

I had when I was a kid,

a teenager,

started to get interested

in girls,

is,

one of the fears

I had was,

how on earth

could I ever marry somebody?

I had a hard time

talking to a girl

for a minute

and if I married her,

I'd have to talk

to her for decades

and where on earth

would I have enough words

to talk to her

for decades?

Like,

how would that work?

And then the other problem

I had,

I used to,

I'm getting read

even talking to you

about this,

but I'd call up,

like I remember

when I first

would call up Louise

and I'd make a list

of things

to talk to her about.

I would go through

in my mind

at first

how the conversation

was going to go

and then I would make

a few notes

that I'd have

by the phone.

Now,

here's the thing

about talking

to a real person

as opposed to

how a conversation

is going to work

with an imaginary person.

Generally speaking,

my imaginary conversations

all work out fine,

but my conversations

with real people

don't work out

quite as fine.

I mean,

they interrupt

or they change

the topic

or they bring up

a topic

I hadn't thought about.

Well,

and that's what it's like

to be with a real person.

And,

see,

this is what's so powerful

about God's revelation

is it's not just

that God gives me some,

if God just gave everybody

private revelations,

they'd probably be

no different

than just me,

like me having

an imaginary conversation

with Louise.

Where before I met Louise

and I was trying

to imagine

the woman of my dreams

and how I would

talk to her

and how she would respond.

Oh,

George,

you're so wonderful.

You know,

whatever.

Get my jokes,

laugh at my jokes,

you know,

all that type of stuff.

You know,

never be mad at me.

I've told you this before,

right?

I'm so clueless.

I wish I'd written

all of these things down.

I remember the time

I told Louise

that she was aging beautifully.

And then,

because I'm so dumb,

I couldn't understand

why she was so unhappy

with me

for such a long time

afterwards.

But in my imagination,

that's not how

that conversation went.

That went swimmingly.

You see,

what Christianity shows

is that Christianity,

God doesn't restrict

our freedom,

but He's real.

He's real.

He speaks to me

through His Word.

And I might say,

oh yeah,

God's going to say this,

He's going to like this.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You shall not steal.

You shall not

commit adultery.

You shall not

bear false witness.

I do miracles.

This is how I am.

This is how I work.

This is relating

to a real being,

not just an imaginary one.

Like,

the fact that God

reveals

His Word to us

allows us

to have the freedom

to enter into

a relationship

with a real person,

not an imaginary one,

not a make-believe one,

not a fantasy one.

to sign

a reality.

It's

what allows

not only our freedom

to blossom,

but our love,

because

God loves us

and He wants us

to love Him back.

And that's

why,

I mean,

on one hand,

that's why there's

this tragedy of sin

and it's this tragedy

of evil

and this tragedy

of brokenness,

but God

reveals Himself.

In fact,

Andrew,

if you could put this up,

God's revelation

is open

and public,

not secret

and hidden.

God's revelation

is open

and public

and not

secret

and hidden.

And that

means that

you can't just

have some bishop

saying you

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

this is the way it is

and this is the way it is

because, you know,

even to a bishop,

it doesn't matter

if you have a,

you know,

one of the things

that was so hard

for me

when I was studying

at my equivalent

of seminary,

I mean,

I had these professors,

they had,

their IQ was probably

three times higher

than my IQ,

they effortlessly

knew six languages

and they were

very,

very,

very eloquent,

but half the time,

more than half the time,

they were completely

and utterly wrong

and not wrong

because I'm Irish

and us Irish people

are used to dealing

with those

who are our betters

going

to them.

No,

because it's just,

that's not what

the Bible says.

Like,

they're just wrong

because it's not

as if they're somehow,

I mean,

all that knowledge

and all that,

if it doesn't,

like,

you can,

in a sense,

fell them

with a single word

from the Bible.

But doesn't Jesus say,

I am the way,

the truth,

and the life

when they tell you

that when they tell you

that Jesus isn't

the only way

or when they say

that there's the Christ

of faith

and the Jesus of history

and then you just point

to them all of the

different times

in the New Testament

where they say,

this Christ,

you crucified.

I mean,

it could go on

and on and on.

They can be felled

by a single public word

that,

in fact,

an open public revelation

deconstructs

and undermines power.

And makes it something

where God can speak

to all.

I mean,

the wonderful thing

about his word,

and this is one of the things

we should pray about

with our own Sunday school,

is that,

and those of you

who have young kids,

is the very first stories

that a child

can have read to them

can come from this book.

A little tiny child

snuggled up on your arm

and you can read them this.

Those wonderful teachers

who are spending time,

even with very,

very young children

out there,

you can be a part

of that too if you want.

We always need more teachers.

And the very first stories

that they ever hear

can be from this book.

And if God spares us

and Jesus tarries

and we die at 106,

the day before we die,

we can read this book too.

And you can have

a PhD in physics

or you can be

down syndrome

and you can read this book.

It's simple

and open

and public

and it's for all.

And it comes

from God

because he loves you

and because he wants you

to know about him

and enter into

a relationship with him

and come to know Jesus.

And it's open

and public.

It's not for the elite.

It's not just for those

who have high IQs

or have abilities

to have special relationships.

I mean,

special types of intuitions.

And here's the other thing

about this is that,

you know,

so we look at this thing

of Caiaphas

and we say to ourselves,

why is it that Caiaphas

has this special,

that God,

in a sense,

uses him

to prophesy?

like he's such a bad guy.

Like he's,

he's an evil man.

He abuses his power.

He abuses the law.

He,

he fights against God.

But you see,

even when we say that,

deep in our hearts,

deep in our hearts,

we, like Caiaphas,

desire power.

If you could put up

the next point,

Andrew,

the fruit of the Holy Spirit

matters more

than the gifts

of the Holy Spirit.

The fruit

of the Holy Spirit

matters more

than the gifts

of the Holy Spirit.

Now,

that doesn't mean

the gifts of the Holy Spirit

don't matter.

And,

and for those of us

who are in Jesus,

we do receive gifts

of the Holy Spirit.

But the fact of the matter is,

is that God could use

a donkey to prophesy.

And if God gives you

the gift of prophecy,

well,

that's good.

And,

and hopefully you will

humbly use it

to the glory of God.

But you know

what really matters?

Isn't whether or not

you prophesy.

We should always remember

Caiaphas prophesied.

A donkey prophesied.

What matters

is the fruit

of the Holy Spirit.

And if you look

at that list,

and it comes from

Galatians chapter 5,

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

it's such a wonderful list,

isn't it?

Because there's

a singular fruit.

If you go back

and read Galatians chapter 5,

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

there's a singular fruit.

It's just one word.

But this one word,

this one fruit,

has nine aspects.

And isn't the,

excuse me,

aren't these nine aspects

a perfect description

of inner freedom?

Of an inner freedom

which is inwardly whole.

Love,

joy,

peace,

patience,

kindness,

goodness,

faithfulness,

gentleness,

self-control.

This working

of the Holy Spirit

in our lives

describes this

wonderful,

powerful,

deep,

inner freedom.

And as Jesus

gets closer to us

and we get closer

to Jesus,

as he becomes

more and more

the Lord of our lives,

as the Holy Spirit

has a deeper role

in our lives,

what matters

is not whether

there's sort of

works of power,

not whether there's

words of eloquence.

What matters

is the fruit

of the Holy Spirit

working within

our brokenness,

our sin,

our woundedness,

our natural abilities,

excuse me,

our brilliance,

working within that

for this deep

inner freedom.

It's not just

an inner freedom

to do evil.

It's not an inner freedom

to get our way.

It's an inner freedom

characterized by love,

by joy,

by peace,

by being patient,

by being kind,

by being good.

faithfulness means

being trustworthy

and keeping your word.

And self-control

and gentleness

means that your words

are words that you

want to keep.

And your self-control

means your words

are words that you

say that you want to keep.

They're not just words

that mean you've flown

off the handle

and lost control.

The work of the Holy Spirit

is what really matters

in our lives,

the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

I just want to wrap

this thing all up

in a close.

Wouldn't you think

it was pretty pathetic

if you discovered

that your co-worker

had an app

so that every hour

the phone

sent him a message?

You're wonderful.

You're the best.

You're brilliant.

Gosh, I love you.

Like, if you found that out,

wouldn't you think

that's pretty pathetic?

He programmed

or she programmed

the phone

to send them

a message like that

all of the time.

You see,

God could turn you

into that phone.

God could use

all of his power

to program you

in such a way

that that's what

it would be every hour.

God, you're great.

God, you're wonderful.

God, you're beautiful.

God, I love you.

But he doesn't do that.

He can do these

wonderful miracles.

We're free to respond.

He can speak to us

from his word.

We're free to respond.

God, you're free to do it.

That, in fact,

everything about God's

relationship with us

is that he does everything

so that we will come

to that point

where we will

put our trust in Jesus

and receive

what he has done

for us

and that we will

love him freely.

And as the Holy Spirit

moves deeply

and deeply

in our lives,

it will only create

more and more

inner freedom.

You see,

one of the things

which is so powerful

about this text

is that Caiaphas

uses his power

so that he keeps

his place

by having Jesus die.

If you could put up

the next point, Andrew.

And that's generally

how things work

in this world.

Not that the powerful

want everybody to die.

Most of the time,

the powerful

don't give a hoot

about you.

They don't even know

you exist.

They don't even care

that you exist.

But if it comes time

to choose

for the powerful person

between them

keeping their power

or somebody else

having to die,

they will almost always,

we will almost always

choose the other person dying.

The powerful

want you to die for them

if it comes down

to the end.

But Jesus,

he has the power

to raise the dead.

He has the power

to feed 5,000 men

with a few loaves

and fishes.

He has the power

to heal a man

who was blind

from birth.

He has the power

to heal a man

who had been an invalid

for many, many, many decades.

He had a power

to heal a nobleman's son

who was very, very far distant.

He had the power

to turn water into wine.

But Jesus,

the powerful one,

dies for the powerless.

If you could put up

the final slide, Andrew.

It's very, very interesting

how John has chosen

to write this book.

If you go back

and read John chapter 1

John 1 · chapter mention

and you'll see

how Jesus is first introduced.

I love this.

It's one of my favorite parts

in the Bible.

How is Jesus introduced?

Go back and look it up

in John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

John the Baptist says,

Behold the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

And now,

when all of the miracles

are coming to an end

that John is going

to talk to us about,

and as we come

to a final time

of Jesus teaching

his disciples one-on-one,

we see that Caiaphas

says that Jesus,

how does he put it?

Verse 50,

he says,

It is better for you

that one man

should die for the people,

not that the whole nation

should perish.

And if you go back

and read the next few verses,

this happens as people

are preparing for Passover,

where the Passover lamb

will be sacrificed.

We are to understand

that all of these

wonderful teachings

of Jesus

about rivers of living water,

about bread from heaven,

about eternal life,

we are to understand

that all of these miracles,

that it is the miracle worker

who dies upon the cross,

that he dies

in my place.

The heart of the gospel,

in my place condemned he stood.

True story.

You want to know

who wrote those words,

in my place condemned

he stood.

His last name was,

I'm not making this up,

Bliss.

Bliss.

His name was Philip Bliss,

1875.

What a savior.

It's one of the lines

in the hymn.

In my place,

condemned,

he stood.

That is the heart

of the gospel.

The powerful dying

for you and for me.

And we receive it

by faith.

You are free to choose.

You are free to choose.

But let me tell you,

that if you choose

to receive

what Christ has done

for you,

you are not going to have one

who is going to

so overwhelm you

and destroy your uniqueness

and destroy your individuality

and overwhelm your personality

and make you into a robot,

make you into a zombie.

No.

He died for you.

He loves you.

And I stand before God

not because I can speak well

or I can't speak well

or not because my church is big

or small

or this or that

or anything like that.

I stand before God.

My only confidence before God

is that in my place

condemned,

he stood.

That that which has kept me

far from God

fell on him

and he took the punishment.

and the innocence

and righteousness

and perfection

and goodness

of Jesus

comes on me

all out of grace,

all out of love,

freely bestowed,

freely to be received.

And as we receive

what Christ has done

and draw close to him,

his great work within us

will be a growth

of inner freedom.

Please stand.

Bow our heads in prayer.

Father,

we ask that you would grip us

with the gospel.

Help us to remember

who Jesus is.

Father,

that on one hand

we ask that you give us

a godly fear of you

that we might know

that you are God

and that we are not,

that we might know

where we begin and end

and where you begin and end

and how you are always God

and we are never,

ever,

ever,

ever,

ever God.

That's good.

That we might have

that deep sense

of that difference

combined with a thankfulness

and an awe

and a longing for you

which is that true

and proper fear of you.

Father,

we ask that you grant us that.

But Father,

deliver us from all foolish,

flesh-born,

devil-inspired fears

that you will somehow hurt us.

Father,

we thank you

that you will never hurt us,

that you will be with us

when we are in sorrow,

that you will be with us

when we are in difficulty,

that you will be with us

at the day of,

as we walk through the valley

of the shadow of death.

You will be with us

when we hear

the terrible diagnosis.

You will be with us

in our celebrations

and in our joys.

You will be with us

in our rising

and our lying down at night,

that you will be with us,

that you will walk with us,

that you will be our God

and that we will be your people

and that your Son died for us

and your Holy Spirit works within us

to bring inner freedom.

Father,

grow within us

that deep,

abandoned growth

of ability

to abandon ourselves

upon you.

And all these things

we ask in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.