If you would turn in your Bibles
to Luke chapter 22, I want just to cover one part of this today. But in covering this, I hope
that we get the full scope of what we need to have what the
hymn writer expressed in the hymn we sang, that nothing moves
this heart of mine but the grace of God by the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to read this together with you from Luke chapter 22. And I will read the first 48
verses of this chapter. Now the feast of unleavened bread
drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests
and the scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared
the people. Then entered Satan into Judas,
surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the 12. And he went
his way and communed with the chief priests and captains how
he might betray him unto them. And they were glad and covenanted
to give him money. And he promised and sought opportunity
to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. Then
came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed.
And he sent, Jesus sent, Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare
us the Passover that we may eat. And they said to him, Where wilt
thou that we prepare? And he said to them, Behold,
when you are entered into the city, there shall a man meet
you, bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where
he entereth in. And you shall say unto the good
men of the house, the master saith to thee, where is the guest
chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And
he shall show you a large upper room furnished, there make ready. And they went and found, as he
had said to them, and they made ready the Passover." You can
see here that the Lord Jesus Christ knows the details of what's
going on outside of his physical sight, because he is God. Amazing. Verse 14, and when the hour was
come, he sat down and the 12 apostles with him. And he said
to them, with desire, I have desire to eat this Passover with
you before I suffer. Don't let that verse escape your
careful attention. With desire, the Lord Jesus Christ
desired to have this supper with his disciples, with sinners.
This was the reason for him coming into the world. Verse 16, for
I say to you, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled
in the kingdom of God. The Passover, that is, he was
going to offer himself. And he took the cup and gave
thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For
I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until
the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks,
and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which
is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also
the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament
in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of
him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly, the
Son of Man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom
he is betrayed. And they began to inquire among
themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. And
there was also a strife among them which of them should be
accounted the greatest." Sounds like us, huh? And he said to
them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them,
and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors,
but you shall not be so. In other words, there's not going
to be a hierarchy of people in your midst. But he that is greatest
among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief
as he that doth serve. That's the way you know the chief
is he serves. For whether is greater he that
sits at meet or he that serveth is not he that sitteth at meet,
but I am among you as he that serveth. You are they which have
continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom
as my father hath appointed unto me, that you may eat and drink
at my table in my kingdom. Think of Mephibosheth sitting
at David's table eating. And here we are eating at the
king's table in his kingdom. And you shall sit on thrones
judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you
as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. And he said to him, Lord, I am
ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And he said,
I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before
thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. And he said to them,
when I sent you without purse and script and shoes, lacked
ye anything? And they said, nothing. Then
said he to them, but now he that hath a purse, let him take it,
and likewise his script. And he that hath no sword, let
him sell his garment and buy one. For I say unto you that
this that is written must yet be accomplished in me. And this
is what was written. And he was reckoned among the
transgressors. for the things concerning me
have an end. And they said, Lord, behold,
here are two swords. And he said to them, it is enough.
Now, I want to focus especially on what is said in 1 Corinthians
11, 23, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was
betrayed, that's when he took the bread and broke it and gave
it to his disciples, that's when he took the cup and he also distributed
that cup to all of them to drink, that they were to all drink of
that same cup, each one of them. In the night he was betrayed.
The Lord Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper the night that
Judas betrayed him. Now, this was the last time that
the Passover was to be observed, that Passover feast. From that
night onward, the Lord's Supper is to be observed. As it says
in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul said, I have received of the Lord that
which I also deliver to you to do this in remembrance of me. So as the twilight of night attended
that meeting there that we just read about here, so the observance
of the Passover has given way to the dawning light and the
observance of the Lord's Supper. Think about the Passover. The
Passover was what Israel offered. The Passover was something the
Israelites did in Egypt under the tyrannical rule of an earthly
tyrant and physical bondage. Now, think about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Israel didn't offer him. He offered
himself. He offered himself not to deliver
us from an earthly tyrant, but from Satan and from sin. And
he did so not by a lamb that Israel could offer, but by his
own blood, the blood of the Lamb of God. The work is his, and
this work is done. Therefore, what he did then,
we remember now. Not what we offer, but what he
offered. Not a lamb, but the Lamb of God. Not what we gave, but what he
gave. He gave himself for us. And God
sees his blood and his sufferings as God said in Exodus chapter
12 and 13. He sees the blood and he passes
over Israel. So God sees Christ and passes
over his people. Not only passes over them, but
justifies them for the sake of his blood. The Passover recalled
to the mind of the Israelites how God delivered them, delivering
their firstborn from Egypt by the blood of the lamb they were
to sprinkle on their doorposts. Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter
5 and verse 7, it says Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for
us. So clearly, the Lord Jesus Christ
is our Passover. He accomplished the Passover
spiritually when he sacrificed himself for us. Therefore, the
Passover is fulfilled and it is no longer to be observed.
I know some churches have dinners around the date of the Passover.
I don't know why. I do not think that such traditions
should be followed since the Lord put an end to them by fulfilling
them and giving us the Lord's Supper. But they do. The Lord's Supper calls Christ
to the precious remembrance of his believing people. He says,
do this in remembrance of me. When he delivered all those God
gave him from the judgment of God against them for their sins,
and when he delivered them from the bondage of sin and Satan
and death, he delivered them to live in the glorious liberty
of the sons of God through his redeeming blood. Their sins are
therefore no longer remembered against them. Then, when he did
this on the cross, they were delivered from the justice of
God that separated them from God. Galatians 3.13, Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us. Because the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed them then, therefore
now the Spirit of His Son is sent into their hearts. Now we
are to remember Him. We do not sacrifice a lamb because
Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. But we were redeemed
and we were delivered from sin and from Satan by the broken
body and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. On that night,
the Lord Jesus suffered everything required by God to save us from
our sins. That's something that we need
to let sink deeply into our conscience. On that night, then, In history,
the Lord Jesus Christ, by himself, suffered everything God required
to save us from our sins, and he redeemed us from all that
was justly due to us from God because of our sins. He redeemed
us. He bought us, He paid the price
God required, the ransom price of Himself to redeem us by His
precious blood. It was the very night that Judas
betrayed Him when the Lord Jesus did this. The very night that
Judas betrayed Him, He was sacrificed for us. Now, three questions. I have three questions related
to this. The Lord Jesus Christ certainly
knew and knows the hearts of all men. We realize that. We know also from John chapter
13, verse 18, that Jesus did not choose Judas. It says, I
know whom I have chosen. But the son of perdition, he
didn't choose. We also know that he did not
cleanse Judas from his sins by his sin atoning death. Because
in John 13, verse 10, he says, you are clean, but not all. So
not all of them were clean, not all of them were chosen because
he didn't cleanse Judas and didn't choose Judas. Now this raises
three questions, at least three questions. First, why did the
Lord Jesus Christ befriend Judas? Why did he? Second question I
have is, why did God ordain that Judas should betray the Lord
Jesus on the occasion of this intimate dinner that he held
with his beloved disciples on the very night of the last Passover
and the Lord's Supper? Why did God ordain this to be
the case? And third, why did Judas, why
did the betrayal of Judas cause the Lord Jesus so much sorrow
and suffering? Now, those are the three questions.
Why did he befriend Judas? Why did God ordain this on this
very night? And why did his betrayal go so
deeply, causing sorrow and suffering for the Lord Jesus? Now, I have
nine different things that God says that helps answer these
three questions. There are many reasons that God
gives to answer them, and all of them reveal the greatness
of our God and Savior. Get this now. The answers to
these questions reveal the greatness of our God and Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. In Psalm 76 10, it says, surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee. And this is exactly what
happened on that night. and the remainder of wrath thou
shalt restrain." Remember this, that the wrath of man shall praise
thee, praise the Lord, praise the Lord Jesus Christ, and this
remainder of man's wrath God will restrain. So the first answer
God gives here to these questions, why Jesus befriended Judas, why
God ordained him to betray Jesus on this very night, and why his
betrayal caused him so much suffering and sorrow, the first answer
is that it was the will of God. This is the most fundamental
reason of all, because it was the will of God. He says in Hebrews
chapter 10 in verse 5, a body thou hast prepared me. And in
verse 6, in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast
had no pleasure. And then again in verse 7, I
come to do thy will, O God. The body God gave him was to
offer himself for our sins, and it was the will of God he came
to do. Christ did all that he did because
it was the will of God. You have to know this. This is
the most fundamental, foundational truth of scripture, is that because
it was the will of God, it was done. It was the will of God
to save his people from their sins. It was the will of God
that he would glorify himself in the sin-atoning death of his
son. Jesus says this in John chapter
12, Now is my soul troubled, and what? Shall I say, Father,
save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name. There you have it. He came to
save his people. It was the will of God. He did
it to save them, to glorify the name of his father. He says also
in John 17, four, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work thou gavest me to do. There you have it. Glorifying
his father, finishing that work. Now, Christ suffered betrayal
from Judas because it was the will of God. That will of God
by which he would offer himself to God for our sins to save us
from our sins. Because it was the will of God,
we know it was holy. Because God only does what's
holy. And because it was the will of God, we know God accomplished
all he intended by it. And we also know that because
it was the will of God, He determined to do it before the world ever
began, before He created anything. It says in Luke 22, 22 where
we just read, truly the son of man goeth as it was determined,
but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. So here we see
that God gave Judas up to do what was in his heart under the
influence of Satan because it was the will of God. God must
hold us up or we will fall. Do you see that? Judas fell,
he betrayed his master, and the Lord must hold us up, and so
we pray, oh Lord, according to your good will, hold us up, save
us. That's the first reason. It was
the will of God. Why did Judas betray the Lord
this night? Why did Jesus befriend him? Why did it hurt him so?
Because it was the will of God. The second reason is that scripture
foretold it. And this also is the most fundamental
reason. Jesus said this in John 10, 35,
Scripture cannot be broken. Everything he did, he did to
fulfill Scripture. This is the second reason why
Judas betrayed Jesus on this night, because Scripture foretold
it. In at least three different Psalms,
Scripture foretold Judas would betray Jesus. He says this in
each of these Psalms. When we read these Psalms, and
I'm going to read them here in a moment, we hear that this pain
that Jesus felt because Judas betrayed him. We hear it in these
scriptures. The holy and harmless Savior,
our Lord Jesus Christ, felt what he felt when Judas betrayed him. Listen to what it says in Psalm
41 and verse 4 through 9. Psalm 41, listen. I said, Lord,
this is undoubtedly the words of Christ spoken in prophecy.
You'll see it. He said, I said, Lord, be merciful
unto me. Notice how Jesus is praying for
mercy. Heal my soul because he was accounted
with our sins. He bore our sicknesses. For I
have sinned against thee. He owned our sins before God
as his own sins. Mine enemies speak evil of me. He goes on in Psalm 41, verse
5, he says, When shall he die? This is what his enemies say.
When shall he die? And his name perish. In verse
six, and if he come to see me, he, meaning Judas, he speaks
vanity. His heart gathereth iniquity
to itself. When he goeth abroad, he telleth
it. He gathers all these evil thoughts, and when he goes abroad,
he gathers together Christ's enemies against him. all that hate me. whisper together
against me. Against me do they devise my
hurt. An evil disease, say they, cleaveth
fast to him. And now that he lieth, he shall
rise up no more. Yea, my own familiar friend,
in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up
his heel against me." Now that's quoted in the New Testament as
the words of Christ spoken about Judas and his betrayal. And that
was Psalm 41. In Psalm 55, in verse 12, it
says this, another prophecy of Judas betraying Jesus, it says,
these are the words of Jesus, again in prophecy. For it was
not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated
me that did magnify himself against me, then I would have hid myself
from him. But it was thou, a man mine equal,
my guide and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together
and we walked to the house of God in company." Now, this was
historically spoken by David of Ahithophel, his chief counselor. It says in 2 Samuel 15, 31, one
told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with
Absalom. And David said, O Lord, I pray
Thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. But Ahithophel's
betrayal of David is recorded in Psalm 55 as a prophecy of
Judas' betrayal of Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. So Ahithophel
was David's counselor, and as Ahithophel turned in conspiracy
against the king, King David, so Judas was with Christ for
three and a half years as his disciple, and he turned in conspiracy
with his enemies against the king, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then in Psalm 109, it says this, I'm just gonna take some
excerpts here from Psalm 109. In verse five, it says, they
have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love. And then
in verse 16 of the same chapter, Psalm 109, verse 16, he remembered
not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that
he might even slay the broken in heart. Do you hear the words
here? Judas did not remember to show mercy, but he devised
to persecute the poor and needy man, which was the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he might even slay the broken in heart. That's him.
Judas persecuting Christ. And then also in Psalm 109, verse
21, the Lord Jesus prays this, but do thou for me, O God, the
Lord, for thy name's sake, because thy mercy is good, deliver thou
me, for I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within
me. You can hear the pain that Judas' betrayal caused the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so we see here, according
to scripture, Judas betrayed Jesus. That's the second reason
why. The answer to these questions
is, first, it was the will of God. Secondly, Scripture foretold
it, and Scripture cannot be broken. Now, the third reason that we
see in the Psalms themselves, when we read these verses, the
third reason that Judas did this was that because the Lord Jesus
Christ became our Redeemer, our near kinsman, partaking of our
flesh and being so near in relation to us that He would shed His
precious blood to buy us out of the bondage and curse of the
law that we put ourselves under by our sin. Because He so identified
with us in becoming our Savior, He also became utterly dependent
on God for mercy, for strength to do what God gave him to do,
for success and for comfort, and all that he did in this as
our Savior was that he might be the perfect author of eternal
salvation. It says in Hebrews chapter 5,
who in the days of his flesh, verse 7, Hebrews 5, 7, who in
the days of his flesh, the Lord Jesus, when he was in his flesh
on this earth, when he had offered up, notice, prayers and supplications,
that's what the Psalms are, what we just read, with strong crying
and tears, he is God, as the Son of God, but as man, Taking
our place, he felt all that we deserved, that we should feel.
He says, with supplications and strong crying and tears, he was
utterly dependent upon God for comfort and salvation. Unto him
that was able to save him from death, and he was heard in that
he feared, though he were a son, yet he learned obedience by the
things which he suffered, and being made perfect, He became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him,
a perfect savior, a perfect champion, a perfect captain to deliver
his people from their sins. He became perfect through sufferings.
He had to suffer in order to deliver us. And he became a perfect
deliverer, a perfect redeemer, because he suffered these things.
And under that suffering, because he undertook for us, stood before
God in our place, therefore he became utterly dependent upon
God. He put himself in the hand and
at the mercy of God. And he prayed as one who was
utterly dependent on God to save him from death. and confessed
our sins as his own, asking God for mercy, asking him for deliverance
from his enemies, asking him for comfort. That's the third
reason. And fourth, here's the fourth
reason that Jesus suffered the betrayal of Judas, why he suffered
it this night, and why it was God's will, and why it affected
him so much. The fourth reason is in two words
now, for you. for you. Remember, it was Christ
for you, believing sinner. Not only was the entire account
of Jesus' life and sufferings to do the will of God in fulfillment
of scriptures which cannot be broken, and as man standing in
our place, suffering what he did, and being utterly dependent
upon God, but the reason the Lord Jesus Christ himself gave
in Luke 22 On that night is the most precious reason of all to
every believing sinner. It was for you. He substituted
himself in the place of his people for his people. He said, this
is my body which is broken for you. That's his answer to this
question. There's no more endearing answer
to why Christ suffered. No more endearing answer to a
needy sinner than this. He suffered and died and rose
and now reigns and makes intercession to save me and to have me for
himself and to present me to himself without spot and wrinkle
or any such thing to be with him. There's no other way by
which we may know the love of God than this. He did it for
you. It says, in Hebrews chapter nine,
by his own blood, he entered once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. There it is. For us, the
son of God loved me and gave himself for you who believe him,
Galatians 2.20. He laid down his life for you,
John 10, verse 11, for the sheep. It was all for you who believe
him by his grace." All for you. He says that we receive his words
now. We take the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ when he says, this is my body which is broken for
you, when we believe him, we take his words and we eat this
bread and we drink this cup because he himself made our way to God. He is our way. He made in Himself
our way to come to the Father in order that we might receive
the abundant blessings of God, of grace and everlasting life
and all glory by His sufferings, by the purchase of His blood
which was done in love. It was all for you who believe.
We are not saved because we believe, but we believe by grace because
Christ died and died to save us by the will of God. Faith
is that gift of grace and the evidence of life by that grace
because Christ died and shed his blood. Faith is the evidence
of life and life the evidence of righteousness and righteousness
the work of Christ in shedding his blood for us. Therefore,
our faith is not the cause of our salvation, but faith is the
result of our salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. You were chosen
to eternal life, Acts 13, 48. You have been given grace to
believe, Ephesians 2, 8, 9. and Christ shed his blood and
fulfilled God's law and rose from the dead and washed us from
our sins and is now exalted to heaven's throne to give us his
spirit that we might believe him and know him and love him
and live in him and live by him and live upon him unto eternal
life. It is all by faith in his blood.
For you O my soul, here is the word of Him who cannot lie, and
here is the warrant from Christ to me, the sinner, my comfort
and confidence and peace and joy and my hope through the faith
is by Him, that faith is by Him, that He was broken for me." For
you. For you. Those are the two words.
That's the fourth reason that Jesus suffered. That's the fourth
reason that Jesus was betrayed this night. It was for you. The
fifth reason here that we see an answer from God to these questions
about why Judas betrayed Jesus this night and why it was God's
will and why he suffered for it so much is that the Lord Jesus
Christ was in himself the very opposite of what we are by nature. We are sinful, he is holy. We devised evil, he is harmless. And it says, the reason, I mean,
the answer here given from scripture is that Christ, unlike us, was
faithful to his friends. Though his trusted friend was
unfaithful to him, and though the betrayal of his trusted friend
broke his heart, the Lord Jesus Christ was faithful to his friends. Think about that. Though we were
and we are unfaithful to our Savior, He is ever faithful to
us. He's faithful. He's faithful
to His friends. Having loved His own which were
in the world, He loved them to the end. That's faithfulness.
That's from John 13, 1. Jesus said, greater love has
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He was faithful to his friends
in love. In Romans chapter five, when we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. That's a faithful
friend. And God commendeth his love,
he made it known towards us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. That's faithfulness. If when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. That's
a faithful God, and that's a faithful Savior. Even when we were dead
in sins, God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith
He loved us, made us alive together with Christ. For by grace you
are saved, and He made us sit together in heavenly places in
Him. Thus we see that in our Savior, the very opposite of
all we are by nature, and the fullness of all we need for life
and glory is in Him. He was faithful to his friends.
He laid down his life for them. He never denied, he never betrayed
his friends. The very opposite of what we
see in Judas, what we are by nature. We see His faithfulness
to us when we ourselves were unfaithful. And I must ever remember
that it was for my sins that He hung upon that cross. It was
for me that He prayed, Father, forgive them. It was for me He
rose, for me, a sinner. that the Lord Jesus Christ reigns
to turn me from my sins and to bring me to himself, to save
me to the uttermost. It was because he was faithful
and is faithful. And then the sixth reason why
the Lord Jesus Christ here in this account was betrayed on
this night is that though Judas and Satan who influenced him
meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Remember, it was
God's will. Therefore, it had to be good.
It had to be holy. Though the sin of Judas and the
sin of all of Christ's enemies, and though my own sin is great,
yet God, by his almighty and prevailing grace, has turned
Christ's betrayal and all of his sufferings for our good. He delivered us from the enemies
of our souls because our Savior interposed Himself to bear away
our sins under the judgment of God. And it was a loving self-sacrifice
that He made to God of Himself for sinners in submission, in
submission of obedience to the will of God that He might save
us from our sins and from the consequences of our sins. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee." Do you see that? He did
it for evil. God meant it for good and God
overruled the evil intent of this man and Satan himself for
our salvation. It says in the hymn, Satan's
design was Satan's defeat. That's a quote from a hymn by
John Kent, Satan's design was Satan's defeat. He meant it for
evil, God meant it for good. God destroyed him in that death
of our Savior. And that is the power of God,
isn't it? That's the sovereign power of
our God, that even though men, we all do whatever we want to
do, and we do evil according to our nature. God turns it for
the good of his people and he intends it for our good. So that
he can say this in Romans 8, 28, for we know that all things
work together for the good of them that love God, for those
who are the called according to his purpose. That's a God
we can trust, a God we can cast every care upon. Now the seventh
reason the Lord Jesus Christ suffered betrayal by Judas on
this night, and it bothered him too, is that the Lord Jesus Christ
suffered betrayal by a friend because he suffered for my betrayal
of God. Christ suffered what his people
deserved. He suffered betrayal as an unfaithful
friend because I was unfaithful to God and deserved to be betrayed.
He suffered what I deserve for my offense against God. I was
unfaithful to my God, I betrayed my God, and he suffered injustice
at the hands of men because I deserve God to use men to treat me with
the same injustice that I served God. As it says in Psalm 109 and verse
16, listen to these words here. In Psalm 109, verse 16. because
that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor
and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it
come to him. As he delighted not in blessing,
so let it be far from him. did not remember to show mercy. He persecuted the Lord Jesus
Christ, the poor and needy man, in order that he might slay the
one who was broken in heart. And he loved cursing, and so
the Lord Jesus intercedes against him and says, let that cursing
come to him. He delighted not in blessing,
so let blessing be far from him. Now, think of this. The Lord
Jesus Christ was betrayed. He was, he did come under the
curse. The blessing then at that time
when he suffered for our sins was removed far from him. And
he pleaded, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why? Because
he was in our place, standing in our place, receiving from
God what we deserve. We deserve the injustice of cruel,
merciless men. and he received it because that's
what we deserved. He suffered injustice at the
hands of men because I deserved God to use men to treat me so.
He was shown no mercy by Judas and his own people because I
deserve no mercy. But here is Christ's mercy, and
here is the mercy of God. My betrayal of God by my sin
against Him, my merciless cruelty, and all of the punishment I deserve
because of my betrayal will not come on me because my substitute
was betrayed for what I deserved. There you have it. He suffered
betrayal because he stood in my place. He bore both my sin
and my punishment. He bore it in his own soul. God
made his soul an offering for sin, and he bore it in his own
body on the tree. He bore our sicknesses. He suffered
the stroke from God's own hand for the sins of his people. Now,
I tremble to say this, but it is the truth of scripture. Christ
was chastised with beatings from God because he stood before God
as my substitute and received from God for me, for my proud
and self-serving and merciless and stubborn rebellion in unfaithfulness
to God. my substitute, my substitute. God imputed my sins to him, and
he received the condemnation for my sins that I deserved.
And we could read scripture after scripture to support this, but
I leave it with you to consider all the places where you can
think where the word for, F-O-R, is used in scripture. Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. He died the just
for the unjust that he might bring us to God. Christ died
for our sins. This is the message of the gospel.
It was a substitution. He stood in our place instead
of us before God and received from God what we deserved, a
substitute. Now, the eighth reason the Lord
Jesus Christ suffered betrayal at the hand of Judas was because
our Savior considered no personal cost too high to have his elect
people. He gave all because he gave himself. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that you through his poverty might be made rich.
He did all of this because he considered no personal cost too
high to have his elect people, those given to him, chosen by
his father and given to him, those he also chose, those given
to him to save. No cost too high. He gave himself,
therefore he gave his back to the smiters. He gave his face
to those that pluck off the hair. He gave himself to shame and
spitting. and he gave himself to be betrayed by this friend.
And the ninth and the last reason that I want to point out here
is that in his betrayal, we see the tender heart of our Savior. The betrayal of a friend wounded
him the most. Christ's friendship of Judas
was a true friendship. He was no liar. He wasn't pretending
to be his friend. He was no hypocrite. Therefore,
when Judas betrayed him, it caught him deeply. It is sweet, very
sweet to see the measure of our Savior's love and faithfulness. He willingly endured great suffering
for us who ruined ourselves by our sin. He endured all to save
us from our sins and to have us and to present us to himself
without sin. And what was the most painful
thing to his soul? Was it the hateful and unjust
accusations and tormenting of his enemies, or was it the betrayal
of his trusted friend? It was the betrayal of his friend. Listen to these words in Psalm
55, I read them before. For it was not an enemy that
reproached me, then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that
hated me that did magnify himself against me, then I would have
hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man mine equal,
my guide, mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together.
We walked into the house of God in company. Therefore, because
the Lord Jesus Christ endured this pain that we deserved when
He stood before God in our place and for our sins, shall He be
deprived of those for whom He gave Himself? Shall He? Shall
He be deprived of His joy or His reward? Shall not God, who
gave all of His people to Him to save, give all of them to
Him and give Him all things with them? Shall not He have those
that He suffered and died to save? He endured all this, this
pain of soul and body. Shall anything of all that he
asks his father be denied him? Will any request he has for his
people be denied his request? Will God pour out such blessings
on him with his people that neither eye nor ear has seen, or eye
has seen, or ear heard, or entered into the heart of man? Can God
withhold anything from his people? at the request of the Lord Jesus
Christ, because the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself to such sufferings?
No, no. Can any enemy of our souls keep
us from or separate us from him who loved us and gave himself
for us? Note carefully, we did the sinning,
but he did the saving. Therefore, remember him, remember
him. Remember these things. See the
greatness of Christ our Savior in the wicked betrayal of Judas.
See how great God shall make even the wrath of man to forever
praise His grace. And let this sight of His unchanging
and faithful love and His unfailing power endear Him to us. May we never presume that we
are in any less need of saving grace than wicked Judas. May
we ascribe our salvation not to the smallness of our sins,
because we see Judas' sin was so great, nor to the merit of
our prayers or tears or zeal or our works, but to the greatness
of our Savior and His loving and sovereign purpose of grace.
May we see something of the exceeding grace of God and the exceeding
sinfulness of our sins and His holiness that He required such
suffering and death of Christ our Lord that He might save us.
And may we be given to join the chorus of the redeemed around
the throne of God to thank and praise our Savior and worship
our God and Father now and forevermore. when they said this in Revelation
chapter 7 and verse 9, after this I beheld and lo a great
multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds
and people and tongues stood before the throne and before
the Lamb clothed in white robes, that's the only way they could
be standing there, and palms in their hands that's the posture
of worship and praise, and crying with a loud voice saying, Salvation
to our God which sitteth upon the throne and under the Lamb.
It was all His doing. And all the angels stood around
the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and they
fell before the throne on their faces and they worshiped God
saying, notice, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. It was the will of God. It was
because scripture foretold it. It was because Christ stood in
our place and stood in need of mercy and help and comfort and
salvation, and it was for you. He was faithful to his friends,
the opposite of what we are. God meant it for good to save
much people alive so that the wrath of man praises him. And
he suffered the treatment that we deserve for our rebellion
and our betrayal. He considered no personal cost
too high, and his pure and true heart was wounded deeply because
Judas betrayed him, because that's the betrayal that we deserved
at the hand of God. What a Savior. And that's why
he says, this is my body, which is broken for you. And this blood
is shed for you. Shed for you. Broken for you.
That's the message of the Lord's Supper. Remember Him. The Passover,
those Israelites offered, they offered that lamb, they did something
in order for God to look upon that blood and receive them.
Here the Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself. It was done once, He
accomplished the work, it's now done and finished, and therefore
we stand. All we can do is look to Him
and remember Him. What a blessing it is that when
we gather together When we are individually who believe Christ,
when we're individually walking about in the circumstances of
our life and all the thoughts of our heart, all these things
come back to us. It's what Christ has done. It's
what he did to save me from my sins. That's what matters. That's
what my life is all about, to know him, to remember him. And
so when we gather together like this, the Lord Jesus himself
says, this do in remembrance of me. And it all stands in the
brightest contrast when we consider what Judas did to our Savior,
how it was the will of God. He did it because it was what
we deserved. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
suffer, and he suffered most because of that. And so we see
what it cost that the Lord Jesus would have to suffer everything
in order to bring us to God. What a Savior.