I was talking to Brother Scott
a few days ago, told him. I said, I consider it a great
privilege to be able to sit down and talk with you. He said, I can tell you everything
I've learned over the last 50 years in about 30 minutes. I said, that would be a well-spent
30 minutes. We find our Lord in the presence
of His disciples. He is soon to be betrayed. That
word betrayed means to be handed over or surrendering. Betraying. When we think of the word betrayed, where else do we need to go?
Judas. Verse 2 of John 13 says, being ended the devil, having
now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray
him." Betray our Lord. Man, Brother Scott just said,
after the fall, had a conscience. Verse 21 of John 13 said, when Jesus had just said
He was troubled in spirit and testified and said, and He said
this in the presence of His twelve apostles. He said, Verily, verily,
or truly, truly, I say unto you, now listen, here is the Word
Himself. This is God Himself. God in human
flesh. He says, I say unto you, one
of you shall betray me. That didn't do anything for Jews. Let me tell you what it did,
though, to some of those that were sitting there. Turn with
me to Matthew 26. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ made
that statement. There were some men that were
sitting there that morning, and they heard exactly what He said,
one of you is going to betray Me. Matthew 26, starting in verse
21, and as they did eat, He said, Verily I say unto you, that one
of you shall betray Me. One of you is going to hand Me
over. One of you is going to surrender me over." And they
were exceeding sorrowful and began every one of them to say
unto him, Lord, is it I? Am I the one? Now you think about that statement.
These men were some that were sitting there. Now Judas, it
didn't make him any different, any different from Judas. One
of you is going to betray me. And Judas, in a few minutes,
I want you to notice, he's going to say it too. But his actions
proved it didn't mean anything to him, did you? Lord, am I the
one? They knew something of themselves.
One of you is going to betray me. Lord, is it me? You leave
me to myself. Lord, if you don't keep me, Lord, you take your hand, you
take your presence. Lord, if you don't keep me, I'll
kill you. Is it me? Am I the one? They were exceeding sorrowful.
Verse 23 says, He answered and said to them, He that dippeth
his hand with Me in the dish, the same shall betray Me, the
Son of Man goeth as It is written of him, the Son of Man going
to be betrayed. It has been prophesied. It is
written. But woe unto that man by whom
the Son of Man is betrayed. Woe to that man! Woe to Judas! Woe to you! Woe to me! Woe unto
that man! by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It had been good for that man if he had not been born. It had
been better. Then Judas, which betrayed him,
answered and said unto him, Master, is it I? And he said unto him,
Thou hast said." He announced back in John 13, it's going to
be one of them. There was at least about eleven
of them there that minute. Lord, am I the one? Is it me? Let us learn from this, first
of all, that a man may enjoy great privileges, make a great
religious profession, and yet his heart be not right with God. Is it me? Is it me? other eleven traveled with the
Lord Jesus Christ, heard him preach, saw him perform miracles, left to himself, left in a dead,
rebellious state, absolutely meant nothing to him. A man can imitate the message
of Christ outwardly in his speech. But he cannot imitate or create
the Spirit of Christ in his heart. Man says, I'll give Jesus my
heart when I decide to. Whenever I make up my mind, whenever
I decide that I'm going to give him my heart, I'll exercise my
free will. I'll exercise my free choice. Man is dead. in trespasses and
sins. Men are born not by the will
of the flesh, not by the will of man, but of God. Men can imitate it, I don't doubt
for a second. Judas probably put on as good
a show as a man ever put on. Secondly, I see this. The love
of money is the root of all evil. That means not only silver and
gold only, but immoderate desire for earthly treasure, money,
possessions, power. What did Judah say when the chief
priest, you know, here's what, what do you give me if I turn
him over? What will it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and loses his soul? We are hanging
on this morning a breath, a vapor. We're going. Just a moment. It's going to be over. What will you give me? I'll turn
him over. Thirty pieces of silver? Done
deal. Give me some money? And I'll
show you who He is. I'll kiss Him. I heard someone
say one time, Judas kissed the door of heaven and perished. What will a man give in exchange
for his soul? What will you give? What will I give? But for God's grace, we'll take
anything in exchange for Him. What will you give me? I tell
you this, when it comes to money being the root of all evil, money,
possession, rightly has it been said, God has a man's heart. He's got his money. He's got
his wallet. You don't have to worry. Leave
a man to himself, he'll betray Christ for anything. Then thirdly,
I see the hopeless condition of all who die unconverted. What did the Lord say back in
Matthew 26? Woe to that man by whom the Son
of Man is betrayed. Better for that man to never
live at all than to live without faith and to die without God's
grace. It is to fall from which there
is no rising. Leave this world without Christ,
without God's grace, God's mercy. Well, after receiving the sock,
the morsel, back in John 13, verse 30, the Scripture says
that he went out immediately. For a man's feet is swift to
shed blood. And it was night. It was night
in his soul. Judas had turned his back. on
the true life, turn his back on Christ. Why? Because men love
darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Judas having left, our Lord now
begins to speak freely to His disciples. Verse 31, and this
is where I want to speak, 31 John 13, Therefore, when he was
gone out, Jesus says, is the Son of Man glorified, honored, and God is glorified in Him. Behold the blessed glory of our
Lord. Our Lord here speaks of His death
now. He is the Son of Man glorified. We see, behold the divine view. of the crucifixion, now is the
Son of Man glorified, honored, now. How was He glorified? Well, first of all, let's notice
this, how He describes Himself. Now is the Son of Man, the Son
of Man, the Messiah, God Himself. in the likeness of sinful flesh,
God-man. We see God Almighty incarnate,
the sent one, the obedient one, the obedient
servant, God's fellow as described in the Old Testament, the sheep's
representative, the surety, glorified. Here he declares the time has
come for the accomplishment of the work that the Father sent
him to do. In John 17, verses 1 to 4, our
Lord praying at passage of that high priestly prayer, these words,
verse 1 of John 17, spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and he said, The hours come, glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given him. And this is life eternal, that
they may know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee. I have
honored Thee on the earth. I finished the work that Thou
gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou
me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was." Here is the eternal God, the Son, Christ
Himself, the Messiah. Here is our obedient Lord. obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, glorified God in His
body, laying down His life in the place, in the stead of His
elect, submissive to God's command. The Lord Jesus Christ said back
in John 13, Now is the Son of Man glorified. glorified in that
through death He destroyed him who had the power of death. Here
we see Him glorified in that He willingly lays down His life
for the sheep. No one took His life from Him.
He laid it down. For this purpose He came. He
set His face as a flint for the cross. Here He is. satisfies the law,
God's justice, puts away the guilt of His people, cheerfully
paid their debt, despising the shame. Now is the Son of Man
glorified. You think what He has done for
all that the Father has given Him. Just stop for just one moment
and ask Him, Lord, would You teach me something? Would You
speak to my heart? I don't want this to be rhetoric.
I've got some notes right here. I don't want to just read a set
of notes and just read some doctrinal truths. Is this so to me? He has glorified Himself. in
the redemption of His people. The Father gave Him a people
from all eternity. He loved them and chose them
in Christ, gave them to Him. Here they are, redeemed people. Now is the Son of Man glorified. Oh, the depth of that statement,
the depth of that, now is the Son of Man glorified. To behold what was happening,
to see what was going on through that mockery of a trial. You
say, you're kidding me. You mean to tell me that there
was the Son of Man glorified in that trial, going to the cross,
in that crucifixion, hanging on that cross. bruised, smitten, there was Christ
glorified, there is glory. Now is the Son of Man glorified,
glorified, cheerfully endured that cross. And now is this glorified, de-glorified
man at God's right hand. The Son of Man is glorified and
God is glorified in Him. Oh, the depth of the cross of
Christ. Immeasurable is the wonder of
this frail mind. It is here the sins of God's
elect put away. You know the sad thing about
that? I see in part. I know in part. I see through a glass darkly.
I read those words. I think for a moment. My mind
is able just for a moment to comprehend something of that.
And I realize even as I read them right now, how little do
I appreciate what I just read. How little do I perceive what
I just heard? Oh, if He doesn't keep me, if
it depended on my appreciation, if it depended on my thankfulness,
on how thankful can I be, I'd have no hope. Salvation must
be by grace. It must be. He must keep me. He must save. Sovereign saving
grace. God's grace. Now is the Son of
Man glorified. And it's here that Almighty God
is glorified. Now is the Son of Man glorified
and God is glorified in Him. How's that? It is right here that every attribute
of God's deity is magnified in the cross, in the crucifixion. The power of Almighty God is
glorified in the Son. Turn with me to Acts 4. Acts
4. Now, you think about this. What were all these people, what
were the chief priests doing? What was Pontius Pilate doing?
What was Herod doing? I'll tell you what they were
doing. They were doing just exactly what they wanted to do. That's
exactly it. And all those folks started crying
out, crucify him! Crucify him! Did they mean that?
They sure did. They sure did. They meant that,
just exactly what they said they meant. Acts 4. I'm talking about
God's power. It's glorified. Acts 4, verse
26, "...the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered
together against the Lord and against His Christ, for of a
truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done." Were these people doing what they
wanted to do? Yes, they were. What were they doing? They were
doing just exactly what Almighty God said, what He had purposed. what his counsel determined. Turn back a page there to Acts
2, verse 22. Acts 2, 22. You men of Israel,
hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you, as ye yourselves also know Him being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up,
having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that
he should be whole tonight." I am telling you, Almighty God
was glorified in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. His power
was set forth. Men took Him, held Him, turned
Him over, crucified Him just exactly the way they wanted to
do it. And they did just exactly what
God had purposed was going to be done. He was going to redeem
His people. He was going to save His people. God had determined Christ would
be a ransom. Even the wrath of man is going
to praise Him. Even men's rebellion, even men's
wrath, Almighty God's power is going to be set forth. Now, the
Lord Jesus Christ said back in John 13, verse 31, is the Son
of Man glorified and God is glorified in Him. Anybody take his life
from me? No, sir. He laid it down. He said, I have power to lay
it down. I have power to take it again. I read that every time
I read that. I think, my God, what power! I have the power to lay down
my life. I have the power to take it back. The justice of God was magnified,
glorified at the cross. the justice of Almighty God. When Christ was made to be sinned,
hung on that cross with the guilt, the imputed guilt of all His
elect, Almighty God, in absolute justice, He said, I'm a just
God. could not let it go, could not,
who spared not his only son. I have heard men say, well, I think
that God is a loving God. He is holy, holy, loving, just. He will in no wise clear the
gate. I think when I stand before Him,
I think He's going to kind of understand. No, He won't. I'm a just God. Almighty God
delivered Him up for us all, the same us that Brother Scott
was talking about, the them, the those, the given, the chosen. immutable, unchangeable justice,
cried to the prophet Zechariah, and he said this, Awake, O soul,
against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of hosts, and smite the shepherd." How God Almighty
was glorified. His absolute justice was glorified
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him and to put Him to grief because Christ is right here at the cross
with the guilt of all God's elect upon Him. He accomplished God's
purpose, fulfilled God's promise, honored God's law. Thirdly, the
holiness of God is glorified in the crucifixion of Christ.
God is holy. Habakkuk 113 says, Thou art of
purer eyes than to behold evil. and canst not look on iniquity."
He wouldn't look on it. He judged him. Never was God's
holiness, God's hatred for sin, more manifest as in the suffering
and death of our blessed Lord, God Almighty, the Holy God. The faithfulness of God was glorified
at the cross. Turn with me to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Here is the Word of God through
the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit of God moved on Isaiah
to pen these words. Isaiah 53. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it
were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." It was prophesied,
promised. The Lord Jesus Christ would suffer
vicariously, and He would lay down His life. God is faithful. He is faithful to His word. He
is faithful to His Word. Look at verse 12 of Isaiah 53,
"...therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and
he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured
out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bared the sin of many, and made intercession
for the transgressors." God is faithful. Let me ask you something. Scripture says the soul that
sinned is going to die. We said a moment ago, I will
in no wise spare, pardon the guilty. Do you believe that? Do you? I tell you, those that do believe,
believe that. Those who by faith believe that.
You've cast yourself upon His mercy if you believe Him. You
know why a man will not cast himself? He's dead, and he doesn't
believe God. He does not believe Him. Did God say that Christ was going
to suffer for His own? God's faithful. The Lord Jesus
Christ said again back in our Scripture, Now is the son of
man glorified and God is glorified in him. And lastly, God's love
was glorified at the cross. Everlasting, everlasting, everlasting
was God's love for his people. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting lasting love. 1 John 4, 10. 1 John. Herein is love. Men talk about
love. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son. to be the propitiation
of satisfaction for our sins. God was glorified in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now is the Son of Man glorified,
and God is glorified in Him. Never was God so honored, so
loved, so obeyed, divine love and human love, God manifest
in the flesh, Christ Jesus the Lord, made under the law, one
that subjected Himself to death, even the death of the cross.
Oh, the death of that which is stated. willing to take his people's
place, willing to bear their burden, willing to take their
guilt and to die in their stead. Oh, how Christ was glorified,
and the Father glorified at the cross. Now is the Son of Man
glorified. And God is glorified, is honored
in him.