Let's go to the book of John
chapter 13. Again this evening, John chapter
13. Well, if you were with us last
week, and if you weren't with us, I'll kind of give you an
update. Judas has left the group. Our Lord has dismissed him. His ministry is done. Our Lord,
He called him to be an apostle, and now our Lord has sent him
away. And He sends him away empty. He sends him away into the darkness. He sends him away in his unbelief.
And Judas would go out and finish his vile deed And within just
a very few hours, he'll be in hell. Sad, sad case, Judas. Every time
I think of him, I think of all the opportunities that he had,
all of the privileges. It says in the last statement
of verse 30, it was night when our Lord dismissed him. Our Savior
who is the light, Judas left the light and he continued on
in darkness. Understand this, he never was
a child of light. He never was a saved man. He
never was justified. He never knew God. Oh, he had
a disguise. He appeared before the other
apostles to be a genuine believer and follower of Jesus of Nazareth,
but he never was. He masqueraded as a child of
light, but in reality, he was a child of darkness. Our Lord
knew him, of course. He knew all about Judas. He saw His ungodly heart. And
our God, for His own purposes, chose not to give to Judas a
heart of flesh. And He just left him. I tell
you, the worst thing God can do for a man or a woman is just
leave them as He finds them. In their ignorance, in their
unbelief, in their spiritual deadness, Just leave them alone. That's what our Lord said to
His disciples who went to Him and told Him that the Pharisees
and the rulers and the teachers of Israel, they were very offended
in the things that He had to say. They had particular rules
and laws as to how you would become clean with God. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He
destroyed their idea of salvation by works. And they got, of course,
the Jewish leaders got upset and offended. And the disciples,
you know, they saw the fact that these men weren't going to listen
to the masters. They thought He was just too
hard on them. And so they went to the Savior
and said, knowest thou not that these men are offended with you?
You've offended them. You've hurt their feelings. As
if to say, you need to back up a little bit. Don't be so tough.
Don't be so narrow-minded. Our Lord Jesus said, leave them
alone. Just leave them alone. Leave them in their darkness.
Leave them in their error. They're blind. They're blind. They don't want to see. They don't love the light and
the reason is because their deeds are evil. Leave them alone. Leave them in their darkness.
Leave them in their unbelief. Don't preach to them. Don't do
anything to them as far as giving the gospel to them again because
that's casting pearls before swine. Leave them alone. This is what our Lord did to
Judas. And make no mistake about it, and I'm going to talk about
the sovereign purpose of God regarding Judas, but I don't
want anybody to misunderstand this. The reason Judas died in
his sins is Judas' fault. That's his fault. He had multiple privileges. He was with the Lord of glory
for nearly three years. And listened to Him and followed
Him. And our Lord commissioned Him
and He sent Him out to preach the gospel. And the Lord gifted
Him. He gifted him. God gave him great
talents and abilities and gave him the ability to heal, the
ability to cast out demons. Why this man, he had unique opportunities
that no man had except for the other eleven. But he is the example of a man,
of a man who has left to himself. And what happens to a man when
he's left to himself? He dies and he sins. And that
which we want, that which I want, that which I want for you, that
which I ask God to do for all that I preach to and for me as
well, is Lord, deal with me in mercy and don't leave me in my
natural darkness and ignorance and error. Oh God, show me mercy. I don't deserve it, but if I
deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy, would it? But Judas never had
that desire. And I'll tell you, when a man
or a woman or a young person, when they genuinely ask God,
Lord, would you show me grace? Would you show me mercy? I don't
want to die in unbelief. I don't want to perish like Judas
did. This is a man who spent time
with the Savior. Somebody said, he kissed the
door to heaven and he went to hell. I don't want to wind up
like him. But I know this, I'm just like
him by nature. Oh yeah, and I got news for you.
You are too. There's no difference between
you and Judas except the difference God makes. That's why we read
in the book of 1 Corinthians, it's what the apostle asks, he
says, who maketh thee to differ from another? Why are you different? Why do you understand to a degree
and believe that God is altogether sovereign and God is holy? And that God demands a perfect
sacrifice for sin? Why is it you have some understanding
of your own depravity? Your sinfulness. Why is it that
you can understand the wages of sin is death? It's death,
everlasting death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. How come you understand
that? How come you understand that
salvation is fully in Christ Jesus? What is the reason that you only
look to the substitutionary death of Christ as your only hope of
glory? The only reason I know God will
accept me is because of Christ crucified. That's the only reason.
Why is it you believe that? Well, I can tell you why you
believe that. Because God's done a work of grace within you. He didn't leave you as He found
you. But He did Judas. He did Judas. And the Scripture says, look
back in verse 27. You know, the Lord had said,
and I'll kind of review just a little bit, Simon Peter, he
said to John, he said, In response to the Lord saying, one of you
is going to betray me, Simon Peter leaned over and John said,
ask him who? Ask him who? John is cradling
his head upon the Savior's, upon his heart, upon his chest. And
John just says to the Savior, he says, Lord, who is it? Who is it? And the Lord said to John, well,
you watch, because I'm going to dip a little bit of bread
in this sop, in this mixture that they had. I'm going to dip
it in there, and I'm going to give it to one of y'all. And
the one I give it to, he's the one. And our Lord didn't say
that to all the other men. He just said it to John. And
he dipped it. Verse 26. Jesus answered John, he it is
to whom I shall give a sop when I've dipped it. And when he dipped
the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Then
after the sop, Satan entered into him. Satan already, he already controlled
Judas. Judas was a child of hell. He's
a child of darkness. It says in 2 Timothy chapter
two that Satan holds all men captive at his will. He held
Judas captive. But now he enters into him fully. Judas is filled with an evil
spirit. And I would liken this to, well,
like John the Baptist. You know what it says of John
the Baptist? He was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's
womb. Or others like in Acts the second chapter, men who were
awaiting the gift of the Spirit of God. It says that the Spirit
of God came upon them. They were all filled with the
Holy Ghost. That doesn't mean that they didn't
have the Holy Ghost before that, but now the Holy Ghost comes
upon them in unusual, unusual power and might and gifts them
to do these unusual things, to perform miracles. with Judas,
it wasn't that he wasn't evil to begin with, he is already
evil. And the devil was already leading
him about. But now the devil just fully
possesses him. And our Lord, he says this in
verse 27, after the sop Satan entered into him, then said Jesus
unto him, that thou doest do quickly. Who quickly? You say, is he talking to Judas
or is he talking to Satan? I believe he's talking to both
of them. And I know he is speaking to
Satan because he's addressed him that way once before. Go
back to Matthew chapter 4. This is our Lord demonstrating
His sovereign authority, even as the Son of Man. Though He
is the Son of Man, He had authority over the devil. And He defeats
him out in the wilderness. He defeats him, as it were, on
His home turf. The wilderness, the wilderness.
The Word of God says that the Spirit of God led him out in
the wilderness. And then he deals with the devil,
these three temptations of the devil. Look at verse 10. Then said Jesus unto him, get
thee hence, Satan. Get out, leave me. For it is
written, thou should worship the Lord thy God in him only
shalt thou serve. And so over here in John chapter
13, he again speaks to Satan and says that thou doest do quickly. In other words, leave, leave. And Satan and Judas left. You notice in verse 30, back
in our text, in John 13, of course, none of the other disciples knew
what was going on. The only one who knows what's
going on is John. The other disciples, they didn't
know what intent Christ, what his intention was in speaking
these words to Judas. In fact, I'll read again, 13.29,
for some of them thought because Judas had the bag that Jesus
had sent unto him, buy those things that we have need of against
the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. And
I pointed out last week, he didn't go out to buy, he went out to
sell. He went out to sell the Savior.
Now verse 30, he then having received the sop, went immediately
out, and it was night. Now, Judas is gone. And beginning at verse 31, we
have the start of the Savior's farewell address. And he's gonna speak with these
men in a different way. You'll notice in verse 33, he
says, well, verse 32. Well, I better back up to 31.
Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of
Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in
him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway
glorify him. Little children, yet a little
while, and I'm with you. Little children. Now, he didn't
address them as little children ever before. Read through Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and up to this point in John. He never addressed them
when they were all together. He never addressed them as little
children. But He does now what has happened. The one who was a child of the
devil, he's gone. And now the only ones that are
left are the Lord's little children. And by the way, it's of interest
to note that the only New Testament writer who refers to the Lord's
people as being the Lord's little children, directing their, or
calling them little children, is John. He does so here in the
Gospel, and he does so in 1 John. In fact, Joe read to us from
1 John 2, two verses that he read where the Lord speaks of
his own as being little children. So now that Judas is gone, our
Lord is going to have, as it were, a heart-to-heart talk with
these men. And he's going to go into more
depth regarding what awaits him. And it is interesting what he
has to say in verse 31. He says, now, now is the Son
of God or the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him now. Now. There have been many, I
don't know, you could call it high points in the life of our
Lord. I think about His baptism, when
John took Him down into the waters and baptized Him, And the Spirit
of God came like a dove and lit upon him. And God the Father
said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. It
was a magnificent thing, a wonderful event. But it doesn't say he
was glorified then. It doesn't say he was glorified. I think about our Lord Jesus
on the Mount of Transfiguration. And that was a marvelous time.
when he manifested to the disciples, those three men, Peter, James,
and John, his deity, the brightness of his transcendent glory. But he doesn't say he was glorified. There's only one thing with which
the glory of Christ Jesus, the glorification of Christ Jesus
is mentioned. One event, and that's His death.
And our Lord Jesus says it's now. He says now. It's going
to be just a few hours. A few hours. Now is the Son of
Man glorified. And as our Lord Jesus was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross as we read in Philippians
the second chapter. As he honored God in bowing to
His will and being the willing subject of death, the Lord Jesus
was glorified and in Him obeying the Father's will, He glorified
the Father. So the greatest event of all
time that brought both glory to the Lord Jesus and to the
Father is the Savior's death. This is how He was glorified.
This is where He gets His glory. He laid down His life for the
sheep. He didn't lay down His life for
Judas. Judas wasn't a sheep. Judas was a goat who masqueraded
as a sheep. But our Lord Jesus actually would
lay down His life for those the Father gave Him in the covenant
of grace. And thereby He was glorified
and God the Father was glorified because this is the greatest,
the greatest transaction of all time. I know God gets glory. Well,
in a sense He gets glory from everything. And he gets glory
from creation. The heavens declare the glory
of God, is what the psalm says. And I know he gets glory from
his works of daily providence, or his will is executed. He's magnified, he's glorified. But I tell you, that glory of
creation and providence, it is greatly overshadowed by that
wondrous glory that our God gets at the cross of Calvary, in the
death of the Son of God. And because He glorified God,
look at verse 32, if God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify
Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him. In what way? Will He raise Him from the dead? Just forty days from this, He'll
ascend back to glory? And the Father will say, take
your seat here at My right hand. Tell them, make your enemies
your footstool. God's going to glorify Him. And He glorifies
Him in giving to Him all authority over all things. And He'll yet
glorify Him when the Son of God comes back and every knee bows
to Him and every tongue confesses that He's the Lord. So He shall
straightway glorify Him. And I'll tell you, he was even
glorified in what Judas did. Oh yeah. You see, the Lord chose Judas.
He didn't choose him out of salvation. He chose him to be a disciple.
Go back over to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. When so many of the people had
gone away, Our Lord Jesus draws forth a wonderful confession
out of Simon Peter. And our Lord Jesus says this
in John 6, 70. Jesus answered them, have not
I chosen you twelve? That was a sovereign choice.
And one of you, one of you is a devil. The Lord chose Judas. Just as much as he chose Peter,
James, John, the rest of the men, but he didn't choose Judas
to salvation. And in John chapter six, where
I just read from, he's not talking about, did not I choose you men
and one of you is a devil. When he says that, he's talking
about I chose you to this office. Judas was indeed chosen to an
office. But he wasn't chosen to salvation.
Our Lord could have picked any man He wanted to to be His disciples. But these are the 12 that He
chose. And He chose Judas. But as you go back to John chapter
13, notice what He says in verse 18. I'll go back and revisit
this verse. John 13, 18, I speak not of you all. I know whom I
have chosen, but that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth
the bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. I know
whom I have chosen. Christ is saying, I know my sheep. I know my sheep. He says in John
10, I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep. The Lord knoweth them that are
his, is what the scripture says. And so, Judas is not one of the
little children, but these men are. And notice what he says
in verse 33, back in John 13. Let me see if I can wrap this
up. Little children, yet a little while, and I'm with you. And it was just gonna be a little
while, just a few more hours. He said, you shall seek me, And
as I said unto the Jews, and he said this back in John chapter
7, and again in John chapter 8, whither I go, ye cannot come. And that's what I say to you
now. Well, where is he going? Well,
he's not talking about going to the Father, because these
men would go to the Father someday, right? When they died, they would
go to the Father. So he's not talking about going
to the Father at this point. He's talking about when he says,
whether I go, you cannot come, he's saying, I'm going to the
cross, and you can't come with me. This is something that'll
happen between Him and the Father. This is the greatest transaction
of all time. And the only ones who are going
to be there is the Lord Jesus, our substitute, our surety, our
representative, our Savior. He will be there representing
all of His elect of all ages, and He's going to deal with the
Father on our behalf. So He says, I'm going away, and
you'll seek Me, but I'll tell you, where I'm going, you can't
come. He says, and so say I now again. I'm going to die. I'm going to give my life a ransom
for many to save you, and I'll go by myself. It says in Isaiah
chapter 63, he's trodden the winepress alone, alone. He said in the Psalms, there
was no man with me. Well, that's because no man could
assist him. No man could help him. We couldn't
have done anything if we'd been there. This great transaction,
it had to be taken care of by one who's equal with God. And
we're not. One who is altogether God and
one who is altogether man. And so he did business with God
one on one. And he was forsaken. And this
is the reason we'll never be forsaken. It's because he was
forsaken for us. And that was his hour of greatest
glory. And isn't that amazing? This
is the time of His greatest humiliation. Oh this, what shame, what agonies,
what suffering. This is in a sense the lowest,
lowest part of His life. And yet it's the most glorious
moment of His life. Because in His utter humiliation
is His greatest glory. His death. His death. because you see his death, it
wasn't a defeat, it was his victory. It was the
defeat of all of his foes. It was the defeat of our sins. It was the defeat of our transgressions,
but it wasn't his defeat, it was his victory. And in his victory,
we see our victory. And he who was glorified in his
death, The Father glorified Him in His resurrection, and then
welcomed Him home to heaven. And read again Psalm 24, as you
hear the angels of heaven saying, who is this? Who is this? Open the gates! Well, who is
it? It's the Lord of glory! Who is
the King of glory? Strong and mighty. He's come
back from defeating all the foes of his people. He says, I'm going on this journey
by myself. By myself. And bless his name,
he accomplished what he set out to do. To save his people from
their sins. A singer. A closing song. And I selected 352, Jesus, lover
of my soul. Number 352. We'll continue with this passage
next Wednesday, the Lord willing. And talk about the love that
we have for the Savior. And the love that we should have
for each other. Our subject next Wednesday will
be a new commandment. A new commandment I'll give you.