John chapter 18, John chapter 18, the predestination of Christ and the responsibility of man. The predestination of Christ and the responsibility of man. Herein is a doctrine that is difficult for us to ascertain. It's difficult for us to hold it into our human minds, but nonetheless, tis true. that God is sovereignly at work doing His plan, His will, which He decreed from eternity past, while at the same time holding men accountable for their actions. You know, in a very brief overview, the greatest picture of this in the Old Testament, at least for me, is the story of Joseph. God is at sovereign work in Joseph's life, his family, and what's going to come. But in the midst of Joseph's life, there's a lot of other things going on. He's got brothers who are evil. He's got a woman, Potiphar's wife, who is a false accuser, and he has a cupbearer with a bad memory. But at the same time, God's sovereign and He's working. You think about it, Joseph has dreams. You can't help that he had the dreams, but maybe he shouldn't have shared them, but he shares his dreams with his brothers. His brothers get mad and they hate him. They don't just hate him in word, they hate him in deed. They really do hate him. And when given the opportunity, they decide they'll just murder him. Let's just kill the kid, that way we won't have to deal with him anymore. But one of their brothers wasn't so prone on murder, so he downgraded the sentence to having him thrown into a pit of which he couldn't get out of, and so basically Joseph is left for dead. And the brother thinks maybe he'll come back and rescue him later, which he does not get the opportunity because some traders come by and they rescue Joseph. They rescue him out of the pit. Well, they're not very nice either. They don't take him home to his daddy. They take him to Egypt and they sell him as a common slave. This guy's having everything bad going with him. By the way, his brothers are back home with dad. They kill a goat, pour blood all over his clothes and say, hey, your son was slaughtered. Just flat out lie to their daddy about the death of the son. And so all of that's going on. Now here's Joseph, a common slave in Egypt. Just being a slave and working, but God has favor upon him and he moves up in the ranks just because he does what's right. He's faithful and he's a man of integrity. And then Potiphar's wife is a sexually immoral person. She makes advances towards him and Joseph ain't having none of it. He said, I'm not doing this. I'm not going to do this great evil and sin against my God. So she makes a false charge against him. And he gets thrown in prison. Potiphar don't believe him. Nobody else believes him. And so now he's thrown off into prison for a couple of years. Well, while he's in prison, he has some dreams. He interprets the dreams for a cup bearer and for a cake baker. And then the cup bearer says, oh, OK, well, I'll tell them, hey, you're in here. And I'll tell them you can interpret dreams. And I'll communicate this information. But when he gets out, he forgets. And Joseph just gets stuck to remain in prison for a while. All of this is happening, but I just want you to see that while all of this is happening, what is Joseph doing? He's doing what's right. You don't see him attacking his brothers. You don't see him attacking Potiphar's wife after he gets out. You don't see him getting even with the cupbearer. It never gets brought up. All he does is just keep doing the right thing. brothers, and you've got Potiphar's wife, and you've got a cupbearer walking this way, and you've got Joseph walking this way, and the two are in opposite directions, but in the end, it's gonna work out in the exact way that God wants it to work out. God's sovereignty's gonna be upheld, and all of the actions that have happened, that these men have done, they're gonna be held accountable for. Now, in our text, we find the same thing. Here's Jesus doing exactly what is right, every time, every word, and every action. And you see Judas, you see Pharisees, Sadducees, temple police, you see Roman soldiers, a whole court of them, and they're all evil. They hate Jesus, hate his life, they hate what he stands for, and everything they're doing is an attack upon Christ, and Christ, just keeps doing what is right. I mean, it's very repulsive what they do. They spit in His face, they slap Him upside the head, they beat Him, and you see no retaliation by Christ. You see Him suffering under the hands of evil, but being submissive unto it. It reminds us, just two verses and then we'll do John 18, but it reminds us whether we can grasp sovereignty and human responsibility in these events, it does remind us of what Peter said in Acts. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 23, Peter says, this Jesus, this one we're talking about, he was delivered up. It's important to get these words. Jesus is delivered up according to the definite plan of God. This is the plan, guys, to get spit on, to get slapped, to get beat, to get mocked, to get ridiculed. This is plan A. There's not a plan B. He's delivered up this definite plan according to the foreknowledge of God, and then listen to the language. Definite plan, foreknowledge of God. You crucified, you killed. Accountability is there. This killing and destroying of Christ is done by the hands of? Lawless men, that's what they're called. And the other text in Acts 2 verse 36, Peter says, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain, get this right, God made Christ both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom you crucified. Sovereignty, responsibility upheld in absolute harmony. Now, for our text today, three divisions. You have verses 12 through 14, you have verses 19 through 24, and you have 28 through 32. Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate. So we do it this way. Religious and political depravity, that's going to be number one. Religious and political depravity. Purposeful and redemptive destination. Purposeful and redemptive destination. That's number two. Number three, pondering and remembering divinity. That's our three headings. Let's look at the text. Verse 12. So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas, back in John 11, who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. Then, jumping to verse 19, The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Now, if you pay attention, you may not have seen this before, but this is going to look awkward. In verse 19, when it says the high priest, it's talking about Annas. But when you get down to verse 24, he's going to say that Annas sent him to Caiaphas the high priest. Who's the high priest, Annas or Caiaphas? So that looks problematic and we'll deal with that. Verse 20, Jesus answered him. I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who've heard me what I said to them. They know what I said. When he said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand saying, is that how you answer the high priest? Jesus answered him, if what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong. But if what I said is right, why do you strike me? Ananias then sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Then in verse 28. Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled but could eat the Passover. So Pilate went outside to them and said, what accusation do you bring against this man? Now you'll notice there's tension between Pilate and the Jews. They answered him, well look, if this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and judge him by your own law. The Jews said to him, it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die. That's our text. Political and religious depravity haven't changed much over the course of 2,000 years. The White House is just as politically corrupt as it is here with Annis and Caiaphas and Pilate. The deception and depravity of men in the political realm has always been the reality of the world we live in. We don't live under a bunch of righteous, holy people, but deceptive and depraved people. Now granted, there may be some Christians in politics, but the vast majority are pagan and depraved and only operating out of the flesh for their own selves. And this is the way it was here. I just want you to know, something new is not happening in the land. You say, well, yeah, the government's against the church. The government's always been against the church. It's just the way it is. And so Jesus faced it, the disciples faced it, and so it's not new to us. But I do want you to see some of the profoundness of this text. Political and religious depravity. Chapter 18, verse 12. It's an astounding statement. They arrested Jesus. You may not know it, and I don't remember a thing about the movie. I'm not even sure if I ever saw the movie. Probably didn't. But I remember a graphic image, and the movie was called King Kong. Anybody remember King Kong? I don't know if it's a big monkey grill or whatever. It's like, we arrested King Kong. Exactly how would that work? Right, are you with me? I mean, boom, break the bars. I mean, it's a made-up character, but it's like, how do you arrest King Kong? How do you arrest the king of glory? How exactly do you do that? The one who spoke the world into being out of nothing, the one who sustains the entire cosmos by the word of his power. Exactly how do you apprehend someone like this? King of all kings, Lord of all lords, light of the world, the prince of peace, how do you bind him? You remember in the Gospels, there was a man, demon-possessed, and they would chain him up, and he would break the chains. He's just a carnal pagan man. He'd just break the chains apart. He's cutting himself with rocks. That guy's crazy. How do you apprehend the king? Jesus, how do you do that except that he willingly submits himself unto the arrest? Every one of them are wrong. Every one of their accusations are wrong. And I know they didn't have cuffs and a key per se, but in a very real sense, he says, here, bind me. He submits to the arrest, and then he is arraigned before Annas. The word arraigned means to call the defendant before court to answer charges, or to be accused of wrongdoing is a part of being arraigned. Here he is before Annas. Annas was previously the high priest. You'll notice there's a lineage here. Annas had five sons who served as high priest, and he currently has a son-in-law serving as high priest. So when it comes to a discussion about high priest, he was still very much regarded in people's eyes as the high priest, even though he wasn't the acting high priest. It would be akin, and I don't want to get into politics, so I'll just not use the names, but it would be akin to talking to a former president and saying, Mr. President, when at the same time somebody else is currently in the office. Because that's the deal. So when you look at verse 19 in a moment, he is high priest in their eyes, but actively Caiaphas at that present time. Now, he was regarded by many for his former position. He had a lot of influence. He had a lot of power. And he is the instigator in a lot of this. And I think Caiaphas used him and used his authority. If Annas would agree with him, they could get things done. And so William Hendrickson says about Annas, he says, he was very proud. He was exceedingly ambitious. fabulously wealthy, his family was notorious for its greed, it was by him that the house of prayer was turned into a den of robbers. This guy was politically corrupt and he used religion to help his corruption. Newsflash, presidents will claim religion. Even at times you have voting for office and people want to be a mayor or something, show up, they get more votes. If we can tie in religion, we can swing more votes for what we want. And this was very much this way, and he had developed a lot of power and money through it. He takes his assessment of Jesus and his influence and he talks to his son-in-law Caiaphas. With those two working together, we can get this man slaughtered. We can have him put out of business. Now, look at Annas' question in verse 19. In verse 19, two things. Verse 19, he asked him about his disciples and he asked him about his teaching. What's he asking about those two subjects for? Politics, power, overturning of a culture. He's concerned about what's going on and what type of uprising we have. Like for example, if you go back to Joseph, when the numbers get too big, then they start putting more work on them and they're afraid they're going to take over. People that are fleshly and powerful and political, I think they lose sleep at night thinking they're going to lose their job. They're going to lose power in some way, and so they'll do anything they can to maintain their power. By the way, that same corrupt depravity of political power happens in churches. And so people in churches will get in fights and they'll divide the whole church because they think they're losing power because their Sunday school room got moved or because we didn't do, we didn't do Sunday school in individual classes in the summer but we're gonna all meet in the fellowship hall for the summer and for three months I can't teach in my room. I'm gonna fight, they're taking my room away. This is the way people think. They don't like to lose any kind of control. That's what's going on here in our text. So how many disciples do you have? What are your disciples doing? Are y'all meeting over here in secret? And what is your plot? What is it you're teaching your disciples? Are you constructing a plan to overtake our system? Are you gonna try to fire me? What's going on with your followers? I wanna know exactly what you're teaching. Jesus Christ was not a part of the Freemasons. Let's make it clear. I say that, why? Because He has no secret. He's hiding nothing. He's not behind a closed door for members only. Jesus answers, I taught everything I taught to my disciples. I'll stand in the market square, the synagogue, the temple, and anywhere, and I've stood openly and proclaimed what I've taught. There is no secret agenda. Everything is clearly out in the open. I have nothing to hide. Jesus Christ was bold, clear. He was truly a man. Only cowards, yes, Freemasonry is a coward religion. They hide in the background and they do secret things behind the scenes. That's not how Christian men live. Christian men are up front, speak the truth and live it out. That's what Christ did. Now, his questions not only established that what Jesus taught behind closed doors, he wanted to establish if it's the same thing that's being taught publicly, and Jesus is saying it is. Look at the accuracy back in John chapter 11, just turn back a couple of pages at this accuracy that we see here. In John 11, you'll remember Caiaphas is there in verse 45. Many of the Jews, John 11, 45, many of the Jews therefore who had come with Mary had seen what he did, believed him. But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests, the Pharisees, gathered the council and said, what are we to do? This man's performing many signs. If we let him go on, you'll see the danger. Everyone's going to believe in him. And the Romans, they're going to come and take away our place. They're going to take away our nation. We're going to lose our Sunday school room. We're going to lose our position. And we can't allow this guy to keep going on. But then one of them, Caiaphas, same guy, high priest that year, You don't know nothing at all, nor do you understand. It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish. Now, he didn't say that of his own accord, but being a high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on, they made plans to put him to death. Caiaphas has never changed. The prophecy is accurate, but he's still accountable. He wants Jesus to die. That's the plan. And now opportunity has availed itself. Here's the situation, and now we can pull it off. Let's have him executed. Now look, don't get lost in the story. We're talking about an innocent man. We're talking about one who is blameless in every way. You think our culture is bad. This is flat out public political murder of a man they do not want reigning over them. We do not want this man ruling over us. Let's get rid of him. No different than throwing Joseph in a pit here. We want him gone, whatever the cost. That's their position. accused in John 18, 28 through 32. You see him there before Pilate. Now, Pilate, he's an interesting character altogether. But when we look at Pilate here, technically speaking, the Sanhedrin could not execute the death penalty. Now, I know they got away with it with Stephen. They stoned him to death, which makes the story even all the more interesting. They stoned Stephen to death, and they kind of just politically, they just overlooked it. But you see, we can't just stone Jesus. Right? I mean, they took Stephen out and just stoned him. Why didn't they do that with Jesus? Because sovereignty's in the background. You understand? It's just not God letting go and just see how it works out. You can't stone him because somebody has to be cursed in your place. And the only way to be cursed is to be hung on a tree. You don't hang a guy on a tree that you're gonna stone. So there's this protection here to make sure Jesus gets to his destination. No stoning. You're going to have a curse, Christ being nailed to a tree. Now this pilot character, I know you know him, you've read stuff about him, but let me just briefly recount his character. He's a prideful man, no doubt about that. He was cruel, Luke 13, 1 would show that. He was very superstitious, John 19, 8, Matthew 27, 19 will show his superstition. He was a self-seeker, like a lot of political leaders, was all about the all-powerful me. But I didn't know these things. I'll give them to you, maybe it will help you, but this is some things from church history, not from the scriptures, but in church history about Pilate. There was one occasion that he called soldiers who were under his command to put a picture on the flag, and to fly the flag with this picture on it, with the images of the emperor. Well, to the Jew, this was sacrilegious. So, when he was threatened with death by those Jews, he vacillated, he changed, he took the signs down. He wouldn't fly the flags no more. So, the pressures caused him to revert to self-protection. Then there was another time he used the temple treasure to pay for an aqueduct. Well, when a crowd complained and rioted, he ordered his soldiers to club them into submission. He mishandled this money and used it for a personal thing, and then beat up the people who were against him. Very wicked man. Then there was this instance in which finally led to his removal from office. He had this occasion with this multitude of fanatics. These fanatics, under the leadership of a false prophet, They went in search of sacred vessels which they thought Moses had hidden on Mount Gerizim, and they wanted to go and find those hidden relics. Pilate's cavalry attacked them and killed many of them, and upon complaint by the Samaritans, Pilate was removed from office. Then later, no proof to this, but on his way to Rome, as he was on his way to Rome, Tiberius, the governor, died that year. And on his way to Rome, it is reported that Pilate ended up committing suicide. This is Pilate. This is who the king of kings is standing before, right? This whole system is corrupt. Annas is corrupt, Caiaphas is corrupt, Pilate is corrupt, and they're all presiding over the innocent one. Pilate says, what accusation do you have to bring against this man? He don't want to work with the Jews. He don't like the Jews, and they don't like him, but he's put in this position, and when pressure mounts, politicians will say anything. Can I get an amen? I mean, they'll say anything to cover themselves. If the path of least resistance is to have Jesus crucified, then I'll go that way. If the path of least resistance is the other way, I'll go that way. He has no staying power. He's nothing like Christ. These tense relations are seen when they respond and say, look, if there wasn't something wrong, we wouldn't bring him to you. A couple of points of application. The depravity of politics and religion is not new. It should not shock you to know that government and religion is corrupt. That shouldn't be a news heading. It shouldn't make the front page of the paper. Something's going to happen this week. Something's going to happen in the next election. You're going to go, I can't believe that. Believe it. They're corrupt. Now, understand, let me say it just to be fair. I already said it once. I'm sure there are some Christian upstanding men, but the vast majority is corruption. Don't be shocked. I can't believe that they're going to do this with a tax-exempt status. Why are you shocked by that? Right? The attacks go against the church, they go against individual believers, and they're never going to end until Christ comes. When I was preaching down here and they came and arrested me. Okay, I hate it that you're arrested, but what'd you expect them to do, give you a reward? They're not on your team. They're not for you, they are against you. So I would say this, and this is gonna come up later. Navigate the corruption of this world with faith in the One who overcame the world. Navigate the corruption of this world by faith in the One who overcame the world. Secondly, these get shorter as we go, purposeful and redemptive destination. Now, back through the text, looking at Christ. Expedient. Expedient. The word expedient means suitable for achieving a particular end in a given circumstance. This is the expedient way to get to Calvary. This is the best way to get there. Verse 14, Caiaphas 18-14, Caiaphas advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. Make no mistake about it, in the midst of a scene which the world sees, think about it, all the world in this story sees Christ losing. He's being defeated. He's being run out on a rail, we said in East Texas. At the very point that the world says, look, we have destroyed him, at the very moment, he is winning the largest victory in all of history. And they can't see it. Jesus is purposely walking down this road to the cross, while at the same exact time, men are absolutely confident in their wickedness against Him. Both going on in harmony. With this truth, we should navigate through all of life's circumstances with this resolve. What resolve? Here you go. But seek ye first. Man, I threw out King James there, did you see that? But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these other things will be added to you. Your responsibility, kingdom-minded, doing what's right, no matter what the world does. We try way too hard to fix present situations and do not have faith in the big picture. Just let it go. Let it go. Think about, I just told the guys in the prayer meeting this morning, I'm standing over at my neighbor's house, not neighbor John, I'm standing at my neighbor's house and I want to talk to my neighbor and I want to talk to him about Christ and he's got this big old ugly dog. The big old ugly dog comes out and he bites me on the knee, grabs ahold of my knee, I get the dog off my knee, I got blood running down my leg, I take pictures of it, I still got the scars where the dog bit me. So what happened? I'm standing right there in the front yard, he don't have a fence, he don't have a leash. I mean, I can turn him into animal control, I can have the dog put to death, I can bring charges against him. I just ate it, just took it. In order why? That I could communicate with him the gospel. Communicated him with the gospel, he said, well how did your neighbor relations work out? He moved to Florida. But you see, just let it go. You don't have to fight over these things. There's a bigger picture. There's something a lot bigger than a dog bite. There's something far greater going on. Just do what's right. God will work out vengeance. God will fix those other things. Nothing has escaped him. Jesus had every right to attack back. He does nothing. He bows in submission and does what is right. Exemplary, chapter 18, 20 through 22, and verse 23. Look there, verse 20. I've spoken openly in the world. I've always taught in the synagogue, in the temple, all the Jews to come together. I've said nothing in secret. 23, if what I said was wrong, bear witness about the wrong. Jesus, open, clear, not hiding, no secret teaching. And what's the result of speaking truth? You finally get a guy in court, not that Jesus did, swears on the Bible, and speaks perfectly, and you finally find somebody that says the truth, and you know what happens? They slap him. Open-faced hand, and just slap the Son of God upside the head. What do you mean talking like that? This is the way he's treated in this mock court deal. You remember Paul's ordeal with the high priest in Acts 23. A little difference there. Paul actually called the high priest a name. He called him a whitewashed tomb. And so he was a little bit over the line there. Jesus didn't call anybody a name. He said, I've done everything openly and honestly. If you've got any proof I've done something wrong, show it. But he didn't call anybody a name. Jesus challenges them, and I want you to note, give evidence to my wrong and not a shred is offered. If they have evidence, why did they not present the evidence? So expedient, this is the best way to the cross. Exemplary, this is a great way for Christians to live. Try it. Humility. Let things go. Don't make everything so personal. Stop shooting the bird in traffic. Stop cussing out your neighbor. Stop throwing rocks. Stop getting mad and anger and trying to get even with the world. Stop sitting at your work and bashing the government. Stop doing all of that stuff and just do what's right for the glory of God. Stop sitting around the restaurant talking about the stupid people at your church that you don't get along with and try some humility and say something prosperous and good openly that you don't have to hide. Exactly. Scripture, chapter 18, verse 32. All of this is going on. to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die. That phrase, that the word Jesus spoke may be fulfilled. Chapter 19, 24, so that scripture may be fulfilled. 1928, so that scripture may be complete. 1936, so that scripture may be fulfilled. Make no mistake about it, whatever's going on here is going to come out just like God said. And Jesus is good with that. I'm going to be slapped, I'm going to be beaten, they're going to spit in my face, they're going to nail me to a tree, they're going to strip me of my clothes, they're going to mock me, they're going to ridicule me, they're going to shame me, because that's what Scripture says. I submit to that because there's something greater going on that they can't see, and it's the very fact that I'm redeeming them. You never met a man like this. There's only one that can live like this. Sovereignty. Men are acting and God is acting. All of this, don't miss it, man's intentions are for evil. God's are for good. It's like, it does not work in my mind. How can man do evil and God do good and somehow it works? I don't get it. But you can see it. It's what's happening here. We have situations in our life that we don't grasp. You have to have faith. There's something larger than the event. There's something bigger that's going on, and you may not can grasp it all, so you back up and you say, you know what? God, I don't know nothing. I've got no right to answer. I put my hand over my mouth. You're right, and I'm wrong. Let God be true, and every man a liar, and I trust you. and you can let me know the details as time works out in your own discretion. Man's intentions are evil, God's are good. Man displays hate, and God is demonstrating love. Man is destroying Christ, and God's raising him up. Man is getting rid of Christ, and God is placing him on the throne. Man is acting in selfishness, and God in graciousness. Two points of application. The consistency of Jesus, the validity of the Word of God, and the accuracy of prophecy should cause your faith, love, and zeal for Jesus to be increased. When you truly believe that God is sovereign, You will not get so stirred up by the wickedness of men. I'm not saying that we agree and we condone wickedness by any means, but you're not going to spend your life trying to get vengeance every time somebody does you wrong. You know how many marriages are destroyed trying to get even with a spouse? How many relationships with kids are destroyed because parents try to get even with their kids or kids get even with their parents? In the workplace and in the neighborhoods, how many fights break out and how many people never reconcile because we want to make sure they get what they deserve? You didn't learn that from Christ. Turn them over to God, pray, be kind, show the love of Christ, and trust that vengeance is the Lord's. Thirdly, lastly, pondering and remembering divinity. So as you think about Christ in this narrative, we go back to the word submission in verse 14 where he submits to this death. The innocent one submits to the guilty ones. This is so anti-American, is it not? It's just not, you know, I grew up in East Texas. Somebody does you wrong, you get even with them. Somebody hits you, you hit them back. Somebody takes your lunch money, you take their lunch money. It's just the way it works. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. That's the way we live. It's America. You don't let nobody push you around. You tell them how the cow ate the cabbage. That's East Texas too there. Here's Christ submitting to those who are guilty, guilty, guilty. The perfect lays down his life for the imperfect. The sovereign sets aside his power in order to substitute for the impotent. The one in the right gives way to the one in the wrong? What is this? That's what's happening. Straightforward. We saw it, to ponder and remember Christ. He does not speak with a forked tongue. He said, well, man, just lay down like that, that's really weak. You never met anybody this strong. He looks men in the eye, he speaks the truth. Come hell or high water, this is where I stand. Even if it means you're gonna nail me to that tree, I will not vacillate, I will not change, this is the truth. He speaks that way. He does not manipulate, he does not deceive, he doesn't seek a way out from under the dreadful situation. He takes the whole load upon himself and he bears it. He looks men in the eye and says the truth publicly, no matter what the consequences may be. You want a picture? Look at Psalm 15. Psalm 15. It's a short chapter. Five verses. Lots of questions. The answer is Christ. Psalm 15. Straightforward Christ. Oh Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly, does what is right, speaks truth in his heart, does not slander with his tongue, does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord, who swears, here, take this verse, swears to his own hurt and does not change. Christ says a word, and if it's gonna cost him his life, he's not changing the word. Think about the patheticness of our society. Hey, we give somebody a word, I'll see you at three o'clock, and all of a sudden, your chicken gets out of your yard, and you break your appointment, because you gotta catch your chicken. Christ says, even if you kill me, I won't negate my word. I swear to my own hurt, it does not change. Verse 5, who does not put out his money at interest, does not take a bribe against the innocent, he who does these things shall never be moved. Christ, straightforward, clear, perfection, exemplary for how we're to live Christianity. And then scripture, as I've already noted, in chapter 18, verse 32, to fulfill what the word that Jesus had spoken, any word Jesus speaks is scripture. Reminds you of an old memory verse that we had, I don't know how many years ago, and there's several like this in the Bible, but this one is Proverbs 30, 5 and 6. Some of you are already thinking of it, Proverbs 30, 5 and 6, every word of God proves true, every single one of them. He's a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. Perfect words, that's what we trust. God never contradicts his words. His word remains true reality no matter what the circumstance appears to look like in application Make it simple and clear as I can whether you agree or not. This will touch the individual and the church for sure to challenge us. But do what is right in daily life, no matter what the world does. Go to work on time. Do your job. Do it for the glory of God. Do it well. Yeah, but they promoted this other person. Okay, your point? Do what is right, no matter what the world does. They never recognize my service. That's all right. Do it for the Lord, because He misses nothing. Do what's right. In every circumstance, they say, yeah, but they're getting away. Nobody is getting away with anything. a little closer to home. Please listen this morning. I don't know who the next person will be that's going to leave. I'm going to say this. Do what is right in your church. Somebody do what's right in your church. It's so easy. Well, the Sunday school teacher, well, the deacon, well, Sister Sue and Sue wouldn't let me in their little clinic, and they wouldn't let me sing in the choir, and they wouldn't let me give my testimony, and they wouldn't let me do this, and they didn't do children's church no more. My little boy wanted to sit down at the front and do children's church. They didn't do this. And now, you know, the church is just not serving me. It's not about you. Why don't you do what's right? Let's just say, I'll take out the trash. I'll cut the grass. I'll water the flowers. I'll sweep the carpet. I'll get the pastor some coffee. I'll pray for his mission trip. I'll teach a Sunday school class. I'll change diapers in the nursery. Anytime you want me to change diapers, I'm just gonna find a way to serve my church because the church isn't here to serve me. I've come here to serve it. and just give your life. You say, so many people leave churches and they all have these valid excuses. How about some people who stay because they've dedicated their lives to do what's right? I'm just gonna serve my church. I'm gonna be faithful, I'm gonna be committed, I'm gonna give all I have, and if nobody ever recognizes me, I believe that when I get home, Christ will know. Does anybody believe that? Just give your life and service to the church for the glory of God. Well, I work in the nursery every week. Nobody ever says thank you. Just work in the nursery for Jesus. Just work in whatever you're doing. Well, I was working in the kitchen the other day, and that cabinet door broke off, and I had to fix it. Nobody even thanked me. Do it for Jesus. Just serve your church. Just do what's right. Go on mission trips, give money, support missions, pray, sacrifice, bless, encourage, love, serve, and just do it till Christ comes. Well, there's a lot of people in church that don't do nothing. Newsflash there. Thought about that when I was setting up the tables this week. Ain't nobody here to set up the tables but the old preacher. I tell Mary Lou all the time, I'm always working. She goes, yeah, I know, Brother Jim. That's another story, but anyway. They say, just do what's right. Just serve and be faithful no matter what anybody does. It'd be nice to be appreciated. Amen. It'd be nice to be appreciated. Christ got no appreciation in this event. Neither did Joseph. Just did what was right. Do what's right in your family. Men, it's a big towel to ask, wash the dishes. Just do what's right. Just wash the dishes. Put them up. Give your wife a break. Make the bed sometime. There's a thing called a vacuum cleaner. It sucks. Use it. Do what's right in your family. Love your wife as Christ loved the church. Serve her in some capacity. Some of you men, you keep having babies in your family. Change some diapers. Brent, change some diapers. Do something. Work. Do what's right in your family. My wife don't thank me when I change diapers. You don't thank her either. Let's go ahead and do the neighborhood and we'll quit. But do what's right in your neighborhood, no matter what your HOA does to you. Right? Well, on Facebook, they said I didn't mow my yard right. Well, go mow your yard. Do what's right for the glory of God, no matter what the world does. Now, to conclude, we go back to the beginning, literally back to the beginning. Joseph, we remember Joseph. Let us proceed accordingly. You never find a word of him seeking revenge against his brothers. It's not there. I read it this week. You never find him bashing Potiphar's wife for her slander. Not a word of it anywhere in the Bible. You never see him unleashing anger on the cupbearer for forgetting him. You never see him demonstrating anger that Potiphar believed his sexually immoral wife rather than him and his integrity. We would do well to pay attention to Joseph and to Jesus. And you know the word. It's a word that often gets used, and we need to apply it to our own lives. But we bring the sermon together at the end of Genesis, do we not? In Genesis 50, verse 19, you get to the end of the story somewhat. Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? God will deal with you. Got to work all that out. I'm not in God's place. As for you, you meant evil against me, no doubt about it. But God meant it for my good, and you can't change that. Just do what's right and see if God will mean it for your good. Put your focus upon serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust that no matter what this life throws your way, God is working in the big picture to make all wrongs right. He has a purpose for everything. Trust and obey. It's what the old song says, trust and obey for there is no better way. I know you're zipping up your Bibles. I know we're done. I know. I've been doing this stuff a long time. I know how the clock works. Be reminded, those of you who are lost, you hate Christ. You hate His church. You hate me. Most importantly, you hate Christ. You say, I don't hate Christ. Then repent and believe upon Him and follow through in believer's baptism and profess faith in Him alone. You hate Him. If you didn't hate Him, you'd love Him and you'd come to Him. What Romans 1 says is true of you. Romans 1 says this. They are filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though you know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, you do not do them and you give approval to those who act just like You love Christ and repent of your sins and believe on Christ. Follow in believers' baptism like little Jeffrey's going to do tonight and say to the world and to your church, I am with Christ. Let us pray as Brother Jeff Crago comes to lead us. Father, thank you for these words today. Lord, it's hard. It rubs against our flesh. You see, Lord, as they said to Billy's son today, they would always say he's rubbing the cat the wrong way. Billy Sunday would be apt to say, well, turn the cat around. Lord, help us to turn around and stop being so American in our flesh. Help us to be submissive. Help us to do what's right. Help us to do so in honor of you and your Word and your truth and your church. Lord, help our faith to be increased, that whatever this old wicked world may do, whatever wicked people in the church may do, that we know, God, You're in charge. Your sovereignty is not checked out, but it's fully engaged, and that You will bring about every single thing for the purpose of Your glory and for our good, and that no one is getting away with evil without somebody paying the cost. So Lord, we thank you for Christ. I'm thankful this morning that Christ is not like me. Lord, I'd have fought tooth and nail through this deal. Lord, to see his submission, power under control, is astounding. Makes me love Christ all the more. I pray that we would honor him with our lives. In Christ's name we pray, amen.