I've got in your lesson there
that we've been talking about all these things that are leading
up to the greatest event that ever happened on this earth,
which is the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And realizing that that was not a failure, it was the plan and
the purpose of God from the very beginning. And he set forth the
word of God in the gospel and the focal point of the whole
Bible is the glorious person and the finished work of Jesus
Christ to secure the complete salvation of all whom the Father
chose and gave to him before the foundation of the world.
Christ said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He said,
this is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he
hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. And what a glorious thought to
know that we are securing Christ. And this is what I tell people
all the time, whether I'm preaching here on television or witnessing
individually. that the idea that a person can
be saved one day and lost the next day is not biblical. It is not gospel. It's not grace. Because the grace of God saves
us, keeps us, and will bring us to glory. And a lot of people,
you know how they come back to that, well, that means I can
just go live however I want to. Well, how do you want to live?
That's what I ask people. Somebody said, if I believe like
you, I just do what I want to do. Well, what is it you're wanting
to do? What do you want to do? When the Spirit of God changes
our heart, and that's what He does in the new birth, regeneration
and conversion, He gives us a desire to please God. And it's a constant
sorrow to us that we can't please Him more. And that's part of
the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. But my point on this
one is this, and I'll put this in your lesson. The Lord God
sovereignly designed all the events of providence leading
up, bringing about this great transaction, the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of his people.
And one of the ways that he would bring this event about was by
Christ being betrayed by a man named Judas Iscariot, who though
he claimed to be a Christian, he claimed to be a disciple of
Christ, he was a betrayer of Jesus from the beginning. Now you can read that, I've got
listed in your lesson John 6, 64 and John 6, 70 where Christ
said he knew that Judas was going to betray him. He knew it. And he was a devil from the beginning. And we saw in Matthew 26 there
in the prior verses where we're going to begin at verse 17 today
where Judas was bargaining with the chief priest for 30 pieces
of silver to betray Jesus and deliver him and his enemies.
And that was prophesied in the Old Testament in the book of
Zechariah. I didn't put that in your lesson,
the verses, but I should have. But it was already set forth. And some people say, well, that
means Judas didn't have a chance. Well, we're gonna talk about
that. You know, and we always have to, you know, I rely really
heavily on a verse in the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy,
chapter 29 and verse 29, which says this, the secret things
belong to God. Now, to figure all these things
out in God's sovereign purpose and how the Bible says God works
all things after His own will, and He does, there's nothing
in this world that takes God by surprise. There's nothing
in this world in which God is a failure, and therefore he has
to exact a plan B. I'll never forget years ago,
and I probably told you this story several times, but years
ago, I was preaching about the fall of man. And you know the
fall of man was by the decreative will of God. And somebody says,
well, that makes God the author of sin. No, it doesn't. But God's
in control of all things. If he didn't, if God wasn't in
control of all things, both good and bad, then don't ever quote
Romans 8.28 again, because you don't believe it. All things
work together for good to them that love God, who are the called
according to His purpose. But friend, we're not God. We
don't have His wisdom and His knowledge and His power. The
secret things belong to Him. But it goes on to say in that
verse in Deuteronomy 29.29, the revealed things belong to us. that we might follow Him and
what He commands us. There's the sovereign will of
God that never changes and cannot be changed. And then there's
the revealed will by way of commandment, which we break all the time because
we're sinners. Sinners saved by grace if we're
saved, but we're still sinners. So think about this, look at
verse 17. It says, right after Judas left,
and of course, Judas, he's gonna be exposed here. It says in verse
17, now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread and
the disciples, the disciples came to Jesus saying unto him,
where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat this Passover?
and you know about the Passover, and we'll talk about that in
just a minute. Verse 18, and he said, to such a man and saying to him,
the master saith, my time is at hand. That's the time of his,
where he's going to be arrested, brought to trial, lied upon,
whipped, ridiculed, mocked, and eventually suffer unto death.
My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at thy
house with my disciples. Now this was all well within
the purpose of God. This is not just happenstance,
see. He's not saying you go in there
and you just find me a place wherever you can find. He says,
no, you go into a city to such a man. Christ knew who the man
was, a certain man. And that was already preset.
And he says, I will keep the Passover at thy house with my
disciples. In verse 19, he says, and the
disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the
Passover. Now, what's so significant about
this Passover? Well, you remember the story
back in Exodus chapter 12, where God was preparing through Moses
to bring the Hebrew children out of Egypt, sent all those
plagues, the 10 plagues, and the very last one was that he
sent death to the firstborn. And he told the Hebrews, he said,
you take a lamb, a young lamb of a year old, without spot,
without blemish, You slay that lamb with your loins girded,
in other words, ready to leave, realizing that you're leaving
Egypt. God's gonna bring you out. And
he said, you slay that lamb and you catch the blood in a basin,
and then you put that blood over the doorpost. And God said, when
I come through, they say the death angel. Well, when God's
judgment comes through, remember what he said? And this is a preaching
of the gospel, folks. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And all of that was and is a
picture of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, without spot
and without blemish, who for the sins of his people, his sheep
that were imputed, charged, accounted to him, going to the cross to
die for the sins of his people. And God says, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. Now, I want you to notice something
about that that's so significant. It's not like religion today.
People today think that they're saved when God sees them do something. When I see you believe. Well,
now, aren't we required to believe? Yes. But faith is the gift of
God, friend, that comes forth from Christ. So he didn't say,
when I see you believe. He didn't say, when I see you
walk an aisle. He didn't say, when I see you
accept Jesus. He didn't say, when I see you
baptized. He didn't say, when I see you
do good works. No, good works are the foreordination
of God, Ephesians 2.10. He said, when I see the blood,
that's the blood of Jesus Christ, by which comes the forgiveness
of all our sins. Well, that's what Christ was
getting ready to do. And he kept that Passover feast,
and he fulfilled it. Why don't we slay lambs today
and put them over our doorpost? You know why we don't? Because
Christ has already come. The picture, the type has been
fulfilled. And I've told you the story about
our brother David Adkins. You remember David, who's gone
on to be with the Lord. When he first became interested
in religion, he and his wife started reading the Bible and
they began at the book of Genesis. And when they got up to the book
of Exodus and then Leviticus, David looked at his wife and
he said, honey, he said, according to this, we ought to be out here
sacrificing lambs. And that Sunday morning, he turned
on the TV And he heard Brother Henry Mayhem from 13th Street
Baptist Church in Kentucky. And the message was, behold the
Lamb of God, which beareth away the sins of the world. And that
clicked. And he came to that church and
began hearing the gospel. And he understood then that that
lamb was a picture. That physical lamb blood didn't
remove any sins. The blood of bulls and goats
cannot take away sin. But the one they pictured, The
Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of his
people, takes away all our sins. I've told you another story about
a preacher in Atlanta, very popular preacher, who asked the question
to his congregation. He said, what is the ground of
forgiveness? And he answered the question
this way. He said, your repentance is the ground of forgiveness.
And I thought, oh, no. No. The ground of forgiveness
is the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ beareth
away all our sins. And if you ever come to see that,
then you'll repent of ever thinking anything else. That's what brings
the repentance, knowing that Christ alone is our Passover
lamb. So here they are, Christ with
his disciples, keeping the Passover, that pictures the very event
that he's about to go through himself for the sins of his people. And his disciples ask, he says,
where wilt thou, in verse 19, where wilt thou that we go? Verse 17, where wilt thou that
we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? And it says that, The
Lord told him, he says, go into the city to such a man, saying
to him, the master saith, my time is at hand. I will keep
the Passover with my disciples. He knew his time was coming.
How many times throughout his ministry with his disciples,
he would tell them, don't go and tell everybody this, my time's
not come yet. Well, he knew when his time was
coming. Well, look at verse 20. It says, now when the even was
come, he sat down with the 12. And as they did eat, he said,
verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. One of you shall betray me. And
he says in verse 22, and they were exceeding sorrowful and
began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? Now
right there you have proof that Judas, who he's talking about,
outwardly to the other disciples displayed no characteristics
that would cause them to be suspicious of him. I know, you know, people,
I've heard preachers say things like, well, Judas, you know,
he, you know, he, he always was suspicious among all the others.
Oh no. I said, Lord, is it me? Is it? And of course, you know, later
on, when we get to the verses next week, he's going to reveal
how Peter's going to deny him. Peter stood up boldly and said,
I won't forsake you. And Christ said, before the rooster
crows three times, you'll deny me three times. So the Lord knew
these things, but the disciples had no idea who it was. They
said, Lord, is it I? What that tells us is this. A
person such as Judas can fool a lot of people into believing
they're saved when they're not. Once God truly saves a sinner,
and now I wanna emphasize this, because Judas was not a sinner
who was saved by grace, but who lost his salvation. Once God
truly saves a sinner, that sinner is eternally and fully saved
under glory, securing Christ by the grace of God, based upon
the righteousness of God imputed to him. That's our hope of glory,
that's our hope of salvation. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works." Well, where are we going
to get righteousness from? From ourselves? No. There's none
righteous, no, not one. Where are we going to find righteousness?
Only in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Romans 10, 4, for
Christ is the end, the fulfillment, the completion, the perfection
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And
so, All of salvation, from our election, to redemption, to the
new birth, to preservation, unto glory, is all of God's grace
based upon the blood of Christ. And that's His righteousness
imputed. None of it conditioned on us. And those who like Judas,
who claim to be saved, and even claim to believe the truth. You
know, there's a lot of people who claim to be saved, but they
don't really believe the truth of the Bible. So we know that
that's a lie. We mentioned this, if they speak
not according to this word, there's no lie in them. There's a lot
of people who claim to be Christians who really believe salvation
is by works. And that's a lie. They don't
fool true believers. But even some who claim to believe
the truth and who apostatize from it, that's the word, they
fall away unto perdition, destruction, denying what they used to believe.
What does the Bible say? Well, we can read it, I've got
it listed in your lesson. 1 John 2, 18, and then going
on through chapter three. That's where John said, they
went out from us, but they were not all of us, for had they been
of us, they would no doubt have remained with us. But they went
out, that it might be made manifest that they were never of us. And
that's what happens. If one of you all who claim to
believe what we preach here, which is the true gospel, would
turn against it and call Christ a curse, there's one thing I
know about you. You never knew it or believed
it to begin with. It was just sham religion to
you, false religion. But thank God, as Paul wrote
in Hebrews chapter 10, we are not of those who draw back unto
perdition. but those who remain unto the
saving of the soul. And that's by the grace of God.
Christ will not let us go. He said that in John 10. He said,
I and my father are one. Nobody's going to grab you from
my father's hand. He won't let us go. Well, look
at verse 20, 24. Well, verse 23, they said, is
it I? Verse 23, he answered and said,
he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall
betray me. So that's Judas. So look at verse
24. Y'all bear with me. He says,
the son of man, speaking of himself as God-man, goeth as it is written
of him. Well, where were these things
written? Remember in Hebrews 10, we talked about lo, that
which is written in the volume of the book. Well, that's the
book of God's decrees. That's the book of God's predestination. I know people today don't like
to hear that word, but my friend, it's biblical. That's the book of God's sovereign
purpose that cannot be changed. And he said, as it is written
of him, I'm doing what's written of him. And you remember, look
over, let's look at this verse, look at Acts chapter two. And
I've got several of these verses listed in your lesson and you
can on your own personal study, look them up. Listen to passages
like this. Verse 22, this is Peter preaching
at Pentecost. In verse 22, he says, you men
of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God
did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know,
him being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you've taken him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. You know, Christ was not forced
against his will to go to the cross. He did it willingly. I've often said that in order
to be a proper propitiation, you hear that word propitiation?
That means satisfaction to God's justice that secures the salvation
of every sinner for whom he died and was buried in a rose again.
In order for him to be a proper one, number one, he had to be
appointed of God. Well, who's the only one that
was appointed of God to be our savior? Christ, his son, the
second person of the Trinity. He had to be willing to do it. And he willingly, read that in
John chapter six, he said, no man takes my life from me, I
give it. Remember when they came to get him in the garden and
Judas pointed him out and they asked, we're after Jesus of Nazareth? And he said, I am, and they all
fell backward. And then he looked at him, he
said, now these are my disciples, you let them go and take me.
And that's what happened on the cross. He gave his life for his
sheep, that we may go free, that we may be saved eternally. So
he had to be willing. And then he had to be able. And
he is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him.
Paul said he is able to keep that which I've committed. Look
over at Acts chapter four. Acts chapter 4, let me get the
page here. Look at verse 26. I believe this is Peter preaching
again. Acts 4, 26. The kings of the earth stood
up. The rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against His Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child, Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, Pontius
Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered
together, and look at verse 28, for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. Isn't that something? This is all within the purpose
of God. Now go back to our text. Verse
26. As they were eating, Jesus took
bread," or verse 24, I mean, "'The Son of Man goeth as it
is written of Him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man
is betrayed.'" In other words, Judas is still held accountable.
And he says, "'It had been good for that man if he had not been
born.' And verse 25 says, "'Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered
and said, Master, is it I?' And Christ said unto him, Thou hast
said.'" Now there's a lot of mind-boggling things about this. And what we find, basically,
is that we're ill-equipped in the limitations of our humanity,
even as safe centers, to wrap our minds around the sovereign
mind and will of God. Yet the answer to the paradox,
as we might say, is not to deny God's sovereignty and not to
deny man's responsibility. I read that verse, or I quoted
that verse in Deuteronomy 29, and I've got it listed here in
your lesson. The secret things belong unto the Lord. The revealed
things belong to us. And it says, unto us and our
children forever that we may do all the words of this law.
whatever the word of God says. That's what we're responsible
to do. It goes on to say in Ecclesiastes, I've got that listed, 12 verses
13 and 14. Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter. Now you know the book of Ecclesiastes
goes all the way through and talks about the vanity of life
on earth without God, without Christ, without truth, without
grace. And it basically says that man
is a doomed being. And the only hope we have is
to turn to Christ. But it also says that man by
nature will not do that. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. They're
spiritually discerned. That's why we have to be born
again by the Spirit, and the new birth comes sovereignly by
the Spirit of God sent forth from the Father and the Son.
It doesn't come by our free will choice, because if left to ourselves,
we would not choose Christ. The carnal mind, that's the natural
mind, is enmity against God. I'm gonna do some preaching on
that in the near future concerning issues of the reality of sin,
and why it takes the sovereign grace and power of God. But the
conclusion in Ecclesiastes is this, let us hear the conclusion
of the whole matter, fear God, that means respect and worship
God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
And that's it. And as we consider and read that
awful state of Judas Iscariot, Let's be reminded of one thing.
None of us are any better by nature or by practice or by our
work. We're none of us any better than
Judas. As I said, Peter, he denied God, but he was a sinner saved
by grace. What made the difference between
Peter and Judas? The grace of God. And I think
about this, I concluded the lesson with Ephesians chapter two. You
know how Ephesians chapter two talks about how we were by nature
children of wrath even as others? What that's saying is that the
children of God, chosen before the foundation of the world and
given to Christ, vessels of mercy, prepared for that destination
to be with God forever, That by nature as we're fallen in
Adam and born in sin and dead in trespasses and sin, we're
no better off than the children of wrath. Those who live and
die in unbelief and perish in hell. But it says here in Ephesians
2, 4, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, and that's unconditional love now. We didn't earn it or
deserve it. Even when we were dead in sins,
have quickened us together with Christ, by grace you are saved,
and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace. in his kindness toward
us through Jesus Christ, for by grace are you saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. May the Lord be praised and glorified
for his grace in Christ. Okay.