Open your Bibles with me to John
13. I want to keep preaching through this. I think I'll finish
it up tonight. It's such a blessing to me. John 13.
I want to mention Steve Vincent, his
brother. emergency surgery yesterday,
put stents in his heart. He had some heart problems, so
that's where Steve and Kim are today. They went down yesterday. Steve's brother, Randy. Please remember him. And other folks among us that
doesn't do very well in their bodies. God help them. I'm gonna start reading here
in verse 18. Read down through verse 31. I speak not of you all. I know
whom I have chosen, but that the scripture may be fulfilled.
He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against
me. Now I tell you before it come,
that when it is come to pass, you may believe that I am. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me. And him
that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. When Jesus
had thus said he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and
said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray
me. Then the disciples looked one
on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning
on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter
therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be
of whom he spake. He then, lying on Jesus' breast,
saith unto him, Lord, who is he? Our Lord answered, he it
is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when
he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son
of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered
into him. Then said Jesus unto him, that
thou doest do quickly. Now no man at the table knew
for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought
because Judas had the bag that Jesus had said unto him, buy
those things that we have need of against the feast or that
he should give something to the poor. He then having received
the sop went immediately out and it was night. Therefore,
when he was gone out, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified
and God is glorified in him. Oh, our blessed, blessed Savior,
our Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior.
Lord, you're both God and our Savior, Jehovah, our Savior. Very lover of our souls. Loved
him, loved us and gave yourself for our sins. And Lord, all blessed
be your name for doing that for us. loving us in spite of who
we are and what we do, loving us and keeping us and preserving
us as weak, miserable, frail as we are in this flesh. And,
oh, Lord, you pray that you would continue to keep us and preserve
us, keep us looking to you, trusting you, believing you, obeying you,
finding your will to be in our hearts and lives to be the glorious,
most glorious thing in our lives that your will be done. And Lord,
we pray that today the kingdom of God would come into this service
today, set up the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ in hearts
and minds and in the wheels and in the understanding. Oh, Lord
Jesus, ascend the throne. Make everyone to know that you're
the one with all the power, all the authority, all the rights,
You're the one that's the Savior. You're the one that put away
sin. You're the one that made a sacrifice of yourself. You're
the one that satisfied God. You're the one, oh Lord Jesus,
whose blood cleanses us from all sin. And you're the one sitting
even now at the right hand of God and Lord is to whom we come
even now. And Lord, I thank you for this
blessed time to be here. that we can worship together
and call on your name together. And Lord, I ask the gospel would
run well here today. And do be with Ken, Steve's brother. God, strengthen him, help him
meet his needs. Continue to bless Jim. God, may
he get stronger and stronger till he can come home again.
And Lord, bless Peggy, enable her to breathe and help her in
her body. And Father, those that are lost
and unconverted, set up your rule in their hearts today. We
ask these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Look back with me here now in
John 13. We'll talk about our Lord's betrayal. Our Lord's betrayal. And we'll deal with the scriptures
that I read today. You know, our Lord said down
in verse 21, When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit
and testified, saying, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that
one of you shall betray me. Our Lord told us in verse 18
that he knows who his elect are. He says, I speak not of all of
you, I'm not talking about everyone among us, I know whom I have
chosen. I know my sheep. My sheep know
me. I know mine elect. I know my
chosen. I know where I chose them, know
why I chose them, and know who the chosen are. I know who they
are. And then he says, and this is
the reason, but that the scripture may be fulfilled. The scriptures
have to be fulfilled concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. They have
to be fulfilled. And because they're fulfilled,
He said, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel
against me. Now if you want to read that
prophecy fulfilled, that's Psalm 41 and 9. You can read that at
your own leisure. Now look what our Lord says,
Now I tell you, before it come to pass, I'm telling you what's
going to happen. I'm going to tell you I'm going
to be betrayed. I'm going to tell you who does it. I'm going
to explain things to you. And I tell you before it come,
that when it is come to pass, after it happens, you may believe
that I am. You see, beloved, our Lord Jesus
Christ, he said how he loved his own. He loved them to the
end. And our Lord here is assuring his people Assuring the leaven
here and all of us that everything that was going to happen him
to him even what would stagger their faith Look down there in
verse 22 Look what happened to their faith? Then the disciples
looked one on another doubting of whom he spake He said I don't
care what's going to happen and he told Simon Peter in verse
38. He said Peter you're going to
deny me of three times before the rooster crows in the morning.
He told them these things, and he told them, I'm telling you,
everything that's going to happen to me, it's going to be that
the scriptures might be fit, and I'm telling you before it
ever happens, so that you'll know and believe that I am. I am. And I'll tell you what,
everything can fit about our Lord Jesus Christ was written
centuries and centuries and centuries before it ever happened. 700 years before his virgin born
he talked about a woman shall conceive and bear a son and that
his name shall be called Emmanuel. David centuries before said my
familiar friend, it wasn't just anybody, is a familiar friend
that I ate bread with. He turned around and lifted up
his heel against me. And it says, you know, in Psalm 22, our Lord
Jesus on the cross says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Written hundreds of years before
it happened. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter 600 years before
Christ was born. And that's why we know the scriptures
are true. And what our Lord Jesus is going
to do, he's going to reveal the traitor. He's going to reveal
the betrayer. And he's going to reveal who
it is before he went to bargain with the Jews for a price to
deliver the master up. And he tells them all this so
that they'd know that he had not trusted in Judas, nor was
deceived by Judas, nor anybody else. He knew exactly what was
going to happen. He said, there's one going to
betray me, and I'm telling you before he does it. I want you
to know what's going to happen. I don't want you to be shocked.
I want you to understand what's going to happen. And I tell you
this opens up in verse 21 with a solemn, solemn word. Our Lord
identifies the Savior's betraying. He had been announced in Old
Testament prophecy. And look what it said here. When
Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said,
verily, verily, I say unto you, one of you shall betray me. Judas,
Judas, the one that betrayed our Lord Jesus Christ, enjoyed
both the example and the instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
yet without a new heart, without a new nature, without being born
again, it just increased his guilt. He spent three years with
our Lord Jesus Christ and he was so near to Christ for three
years and yet he was unsaved. He was unsaved. Spent three years
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Heard every word he spoke. Saw
the miracles that he did. Sat and ate with him. Enjoyed
the fellowship with all the rest of the apostles. And yet after
that, he still did not know Christ as the Savior, as the Redeemer,
as the One who could save him from his sins. And our Lord Jesus
identifies him. And it said he was troubled in
spirit. Troubled in spirit. You see,
the Gospel, the Gospel of John reveals Christ as God. And yet
it shows the realness, the realness of his humanity. That he had
a soul as well as a body. And he was troubled in spirit.
And everyone of us knows what it is to be troubled. Look over
in John chapter 11 verse 33 with me for just a moment. He was
troubled in spirit. And we all know what it is to
be troubled in spirit. See our Lord not only had a body,
but he was really a man. And he was touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. And he had a soul as well as
a body. He made his soul an offering
for sin. And look what he said here in
verse 33. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping with her, listen to what I said,
he groaned in the Spirit and was troubled. He hurt for those
people, troubled for those people. He groaned in his spirit. And
look down at verse 38. Jesus therefore again groaning,
groaning in himself cometh to the cave. Our Lord Jesus knows
what it was to have trouble. Be troubled in heart, be troubled
in spirit. To be troubled and watching other
people with what was going on in their lives. Troubled. Look
in verse 27 of John 12. Look what our Savior said here. Now is my soul troubled. My soul is troubled. And when
you have a troubled soul, it affects everything you do. When
your soul's troubled, you're hurting inside because that's
who we are, souls, living souls inhabiting bodies. And he said
here, now is my soul troubled. And what am I going to say? Father,
save me from this hour, save me from this trouble, save me
from this soul trouble that I'm going through, save me from it.
But for this cause came I into this hour. And this gospel shows
us that our Lord Jesus Christ, he's God, but yet he shows the
realness of his humanity, that he suffered trouble as well in
his soul as anybody else. And this proves that it isn't
an infirmity. Listen to me now. This proves
it isn't an infirmity. It isn't an imperfection to be
troubled. Oh, no, no, no, it ain't. People
say all the time, said, boy, if they had enough faith, this
wouldn't bother them, and that wouldn't bother them. Our Lord
Jesus Christ was perfection. And yet he was troubled in soul.
So the next time you're troubled in soul, the next time you're
troubled in heart, don't say, well, my faith, if it was stronger,
well, if I trusted the Lord more, this wouldn't bother me. But
beloved, because our Lord Jesus Christ was troubled, don't think
it's sinful for you to be troubled. There's times that we ought to
be troubled. There's lots of things that trouble
me in this world, and the person that troubles me more than anybody
else is me. I'm troubled over my sin. I'm
troubled over my coldness. I'm troubled over my lack of
faith. I'm troubled over my self-righteousness. Lots to be troubled over. And
then you trouble over sickness. You trouble over infirmities.
You trouble over bad health issues. You trouble over lots of things
in this world. And our Lord Jesus Christ, he
was troubled by the presence of evil. And our Lord felt everything
that was contrary to God. His humanity was sinless, holy,
and harmless, higher than heaven. And our Lord Jesus Christ was
a man of sorrows. And because of this, he can be
touched with the filaments of our infirmities. Oh my. And what he endeared on the cross,
was just the climax, just the completion of his sufferings.
Our Lord began to suffer the moment he came into this life.
Born in poverty, his mother and dad had to take him and flee
into Egypt because Herod wanted to kill him when he was just
a child. He suffered in his life from the prince of darkness.
He suffered in his life from his enemies. He suffered in life
from his friends. And here he is suffering the
betrayal of one of the twelve. Huh? And this man, Judas, is
deliberately forsaken him, deliberately, willfully, forsaking our Lord
Jesus Christ, lifting up his heel against him. And here's
what's sad, and this is frightening to me, it's frightening to me.
After three years, three years, Judas saw no beauty about him
that he should desire him. And don't you know that our Lord
felt these things and was touched by these things? No wonder it
said here he was troubled as he thought of the deceit and
the treachery and the awful doom that Judas was fixing to face. Look in Matthew 26 with me. Matthew
26. No wonder he was troubled. He's
going to be betrayed. He's going to be sold for 30
pieces of silver. And he knows exactly what's going
to happen to Judas. Look in Matthew 26 and verse
24. The awful, awful doom of Judas. Our Lord asked, they asked the
question in Zechariah, what is the worth? What am I worth in
the house of my enemies? What am I worth? What do you
give for me? And they said, 15 pilses of silver. Well, Judas
got 30. 30. Look what it said here in verse
25, 4 of Matthew 26. The Son of Man goes Scriptures again, it's the scriptures
of a Phil, as it is written of him. But 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. Not been born. And now back over
here again in verse 21 of chapter 13, look what it says here. When
Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit. We've seen what it
is to be troubled in spirit. And then look what else he said,
and he testified. Christ testified. To give a testimony,
you only testify to what you know for sure, seen with your
own eyes, what there's no doubt about in your heart, mind, and
soul, exactly what's happening. And our Lord testified. What
are you testifying about, Savior? Now listen to this, I say unto
you, I'm saying unto you, one, one of you, I have 12 of them
sitting there, one of you shall, no ifs, ands, or buts about it,
shall betray me. And he says, truly, truly, truly,
truly, you sitting here at the table with me, sitting here at
the table with me, one of you whose feet I just washed. One of you that's been with me
for three years. One of you will lead the enemy
to me when I'm in the Garden of Gethsemane. One of you will
deliver me into the hands of those that seek my life. One of you will betray me to
men that'll beat me until my back is bloody, broken, and bruised. One of you will betray me and
they'll put a crown of thorns on my head and a purple rug on
my back and they'll bow down before me and say, oh, tell us
now, king. One of you is gonna betray me
and they're gonna put a blindfold on my face and they'll slap me
and say, prophesy, who smoked you? And oh, look how the disciples
react. In verse 22, then, then the disciples
looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Here's 12 men,
12 men sitting around. And they all started looking
at one another. Peter looked at John, John looked at James,
James looked at Judas, looked at Jude, Matthew. They all began
to just look at one another. And when they looked, they had
doubt. Who in the world is he talking about? And that word
doubt means they were perplexed. Perplexed. Oh, there's three
things in this verse. One about His disciples, one
about Judas, and one about our Lord. The first one is looking
on one another. Oh, let me ask you this. If somebody in here, if you knew
somebody in here is going to betray the Lord Jesus Christ,
they attended service for years and then they all go back to
the world, go back out into the world and leave the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I said that maybe five of you is going to do that.
And I know without a shadow of a doubt she's going to do it.
You know what? Who would you, what would you do? Would you
start looking around and say, well, who's it going to be? Who's it
going to be? Well, the first person I'd think
of, well, I'll be the one to do it. Because I know this heart right
here. Oh, how deceitful. How sinful. It's lied to me all
my life. It's made promises it ain't able
to perform. It's made commitments it ain't
been able to keep. And oh, listen, the disciples
didn't heed what he said. This is the first thing they're
looking and doubting. The disciples didn't heed what he said there
in verse 18. I speak not of you all. I'm not
talking about all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but
that the scriptures might be fulfilled. And oh, listen, the
disciples didn't heed what he said about knowing whom he's
chosen and one would be trained. Why? Because they were still
in amazement that our Lord Jesus had just washed their feet. and
they missed the meaning of verse 18. I know you've chosen you
and the scriptures may be fulfilled. He that eat bread with me hath
lifted up his heel against me. They did not doubt what he spoke,
but they did not pay any attention, because they were still in amazement
and wonder that he had washed their feet. And it says, and
they looked one on another, doubting, doubting, much perplexed. They were doubting. They weren't
doubting about Judas. I tell you, that's one person
they wasn't doubting about. They wasn't doubting about Judas. I'm going to tell you something. This is how deceitful the heart is. Nothing
about Judas, outward conduct, gave him away. Nothing about what he said, nothing
about how he acted, nothing about what he did gave him away. They gave him away. He himself
had hid himself from them, hid his hypocrisy, and how he well
disguised himself even among those men. That's frightening
to me. How well disguised he was among
them. Nothing about him. People say,
well, you know, if you act this way, you couldn't be a Christian.
If you act that way. Was Peter a Christian? Was Peter
saved when he denied the Lord? Was Abraham one of the gods elect
when he denied his wife and lied on her? Oh, listen, I'm telling you,
but I'll tell you for a fella to be in the midst for three
years and nobody suspected him? Huh? And they looked at one another
doubting, and then look at our Lord Jesus Christ. It's another
thing. They looked on one another doubting
of whom He's speaking. Look at our Lord and His infinite
patience towards this son of perdition, but towards this one
that we've betrayed. He no doubt treated Judas exactly
like he did the others. I mean, he treated him just like
he did the others. Well, how did he treat the others? Gentleness, kindness, condescending
grace. And when it says, love your enemies,
our Lord Jesus Christ truly did love his enemy. Oh, the perfection
of our blessed Savior, that He knew exactly who Judas was, and
they could not tell that He treated Judas any different than He did
the rest of them. Now, that's a perfect Savior.
I can't do that. I can't hide my emotions like
that can you? I can't hide my emotions from
people, and you can't yours either. If you're upset, people's going
to know it. If you're troubled, people's going to know it. Something
good's going on in your life, people's gonna know it. But one
thing they won't know, they won't know if you're a Judas or not. And oh, listen now, what it says,
now look, look down verse 23 and 20. Now there was leaning
on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Oh, one of them disciples whom
Jesus loved. There, and you know, think of this scene. There they was, sitting at this
table. Our Lord had just talked about
one of them betraying Him. And it says here, that disciple
whom Jesus loved, He leaned over and leaned his head against the
Lord Jesus Christ like this. Sitting up beside him, leaned
his head against the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is leaning his
head and sitting beside Christ and leaned his head over on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And what a contrast. Our attention
is taken away from Judas and his betrayal. And here's one
leaning on the Lord Jesus Christ, who had loved our Lord Jesus,
seeing the beauty about him, that he desired him above all
other things. And this says, leaning means
he reposed. He was relaxed, reposing on our
Savior's breast. Right there, leaning right there.
And I'm going to tell you something, John doesn't refer to himself
as the one who love Jesus. Everybody talks about how much
they love Jesus. And we do. And we do because
He first loved us. And though He truly did love
the Lord Jesus Christ, but He always refers to Himself as one
whom Jesus loved. I am trusting Him for who He
loves me, not my love for Him. If He didn't love me, or you,
or John, then our love for Him is nothing compared to the love
He has for us. Having loved His own, how long
did He love them? This is the man, John's the man
that you read his epistles, and you look at how many times he
mentioned God is love. Herein is the love of God manifested
that God sent his own son. Beloved, as God loved us, even
so we ought to also love one another. And this has manifested
the love of God that we should love one another, and God so
loved us that he sent his only begotten son. Love, love, love,
what John talked about all the time. How could he not when he,
Jesus, loved him? Now look what happens now. Now
there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus
loved. Simon Peter, therefore, beckoned to him. Now I don't
know what he'd done. He used sign language or something. He
never said a word. He said he'd just beckoned to
him. He said, you know, ask him, ask him who he's talking about.
He made some kind of gesture and he beckoned to him that he
should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He said, John,
he said, John, you're there right there with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who is he talking about? Why didn't Simon Peter ask the
Lord Jesus himself, who are you talking about? Who is it that's
gonna betray you? Who is it that's gonna do this
awful betrayal? Why didn't Simon Peter ask? I'll
tell you why, look down in verse six. Then cometh he to Simon
Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, you gonna wash my feet. And down in verse eight, Peter
said unto him, you shall never wash my feet. That's why he did
not have the relationship, though Christ loved him, he didn't have
the same kind of relationship that John did. Couldn't get that
close. Lord, who is it? That's what
John said in verse 26, verse 25. Then lying on Jesus' breast
saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Who is it that's going to
betray you? Who is it? Oh, how intimate John
is with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's laying there and he looks
up at the Lord Jesus Christ. He lifted up his eyes to him
as he leans on his bed. Lord, who is it? Who is it? Will you tell us who it is that's
going to betray you? Huh? No distance between him
and his master. And look what our Lord tells
him who it's going to be. Listen now. Our Lord answered,
he it is to whom I shall give a sop. I give a morsel of bread.
And what sop is, everybody knows what it is to sop bread, don't
you? Well, that's what he's talking about, sopping bread. Sop it in bean soup. Sop it in
butter. Stick it down in your soup, you
know, and stick it in your soup and take a good bite. That's
what he's saying. Who I give a sop to. And oh, listen, he identifies
the traitor by giving him a piece of bread. He said, whom I shall
give a sop after I've dipped it. And then right then and there. And when he had dipped the sop,
he reached it over to Judas, lifted over to Judas, Iscariot,
the son of Simon, dipped his bread. Reached it to Judas. And you
know, for the guest of honor, it's a mark of honor for the
host to give a guest, a portion to the guest. Everybody, you
know, they pass the bowl around, but our Lord Jesus Christ did
it himself. Said, here. He didn't do it to
none of the rest of them. He said, who it is that I dip
it and give it to him to eat, that's who it'll be. No, listen,
Judas accepted it. It reveals how far a man will
go in his hypocrisy. In his hypocrisy. There's no
evidence of ill will from our Lord Jesus Christ to Judas right
here. In meekness. And he gave it to
Judas Iscariot. Now look what happens in verse
27, Judah's departure. And after the sop, oh listen
to this, Satan entered into him, the devil, Satan himself, not
just a devil, Satan himself. Satan, that one that was in the
Garden of Eden, that one that went to and fro, that God said,
what are you doing, Satan? I'm running to and fro, seeking
whom? What? I may devour. Oh, Satan entered into him. And
look over here in Luke 11, 24 with me. Look at Luke 11, 24.
I'll tell you. Our Savior, after giving them
the sop, and Judas took it, said, He it
is to whom I give sop. This shows you how far a man
will go in his hypocrisy, how far he'll go in his deceit. Look
in verse 24, Luke 11, when the unclean spirit is gone out of
a man, He walketh through dry places, seeking rest. And finding
none, he said, I'll return to my house from whence I come out.
Judas was a devil, the scripture says, from the beginning. Was
a son of perdition from the beginning. And the devil and unclean spirit
gone out of him, when he cometh back, he finds it swept and garnished.
That's what Judas was, swept and garnished, dressed up, look
like an apostle, talk like an apostle, walk like an apostle,
done all things that the other apostles done. And then he goes
back into that house. And you know what he does? He
takes seven more spirits with him, more wicked than he himself
was to start with. And there they enter in and dwell,
dwell, live there, abide there. And they enter in, and the last
state of that man is worse than the first. That's what our Lord
said, it'd been better for that man never to had been born. And back over here again, after
the sop, Satan enter into him. Our Savior gave him that sop
that ought to have broken his heart. When our Lord Jesus Christ
handed him a piece of bread, it ought to have broken that
man's heart. Ought to have brought the agony
of repentance to his soul. He should have started weeping
and say, Lord, oh Lord, please, please keep me from betraying
you. Keep me from lying on you. Keep
me from desiring the greed of 30 pieces of silver for you. Oh, but he didn't do that. And oh, look what our Lord said
then to him. Then Jesus said unto him, verse
27, Whatever you do, what you're going to do, I know what you're
going to do. That's what you do. Go and get
it done. Get it done very, very quickly.
You know what our Lord's telling him? No place for repentance
now. Esau wept bitterly and found
no place of repentance. No, his doom is now sealed. Our Lord is saying, there you
go, do what you do. Do quickly, your doom is sealed.
Our Lord is saying to him, I'm ready to be
led as a lamb to slaughter. Do what you must. I won't interfere. Go on and get it done. I won't
stop you. I won't interfere. I won't interfere. But oh my, look at these disciples. Look how, look how they are. They didn't know. Even after
this, they didn't know. Judas went out. What you do,
get it done. Get it done quickly. Let's get
this over with. Let's get this over with. Now,
in verse 28, it says, Now no man at the table knew for what
intent he spake this unto him. They didn't know it. After what
our Lord had just said and what He had just told them He was
going to do, here it is to whom I give a sign. And He says, What
you do, do quickly. And it says there, No man at
the table knew what the intention was that our Lord told him, What
you do, do quickly. They didn't know. They didn't
know Judas's intent or what Christ meant when he said do it quickly.
They knew that the Lord Jesus was going to be betrayed and
they were perplexed, they were in doubt about it. But they didn't
think it was going to happen imminent. They didn't think it
was going to happen just right then. They didn't know what was
going to come in the next few hours. They thought things were
going to go on just like they were. They didn't know that just,
it's right on them. Right on them. Look what they
thought. Look what they thought. For some
of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus said unto him, buy
those things that we have need of against the feast, or that
we should give, that he should give something to the poor. They
thought, now this is, you talk about love and charity. and folks not having a clue what's
going on. They thought that he's gonna
do one of two things. Our Lord told him to do one of
two things. That he was gonna be, they were so charitable towards
Judas, love is thanks, no evil. Though he was an evil man, they
hadn't recognized the evil in him. They thought that he was
gonna go to buy something, But, oh, no. Listen, look in Luke
12 with me. Look in Luke 12 with me, and
then I'm going to say some things. Look in Luke 12, verse 1 through
3. They were charitable towards
Judas. They thought he was going to do one of two things. Buy
all the things for the feast of the Passover. This is why
I don't believe Judas was at the Passover with the Lord Jesus
Christ. because Christ our Passover sacrificed
for us, and he certainly wasn't sacrificed for Judas. Or they thought he was going
to give something to the poor. But look in verse 1, the first
three verses of Luke 12. In the meantime, when there were
gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch
as they trod one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples,
first of all, Talking to them first of all. I want you fellows
to hear this and understand this. Beware ye of the leaven of the
Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Now listen to this, for there
is nothing covered that shall not be revealed. Cover it up. Go ahead and cover it up. Our
Lord said, what's under that is going to be revealed. I tell
you what, when God uncovers us, what's He going to see? I tell
you what He's going to see for me. He's gonna see a different
covering. Covered in the blood, washed
in the blood. His blood cleanses us from all
sin. What else he gonna see? He's
gonna look down at me and he ain't gonna see, he's gonna see
me covered with the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Christ our righteousness. And
then look what he said. Neither there's anything hid.
You got anything you wanna hide from the Lord? I don't. Do you have anything
you want to hide? Oh, no, no. He done found me
out. He found me out years ago. Did
he find you out? Oh, listen. Therefore whatsoever
you spoken in darkness, it's going to be hollered at right
out in the light. And that which you spoken in
the ear in closets, that which you said to one another in secret
you kept, they're going to go up on the housetop and go tell
them. In other words, either Lord Jesus is going to make everybody
know exactly who we are, or else He's already done it for us,
one or the other, one or the other. But I tell you what, back
over here in John 13, They thought because Judas had the bag that
Jesus said unto him, buy those things we have need of against
the feast. There in verse 29, that he should
give something to the poor. But you know what? Judas didn't
go to buy anything, but he went to sell. He's going to open that
bag, he's going to go to the high priest, and they're going
to say, what do you want from him? What do you give me? He's
going to say, what do you give me? If I betray him unto you,
if I lead you to him, if I take you to him, what do you say?
What do you give me? They said, well, we'll give you 30 pieces
of silver. He opened up that bag, pulled it open, stuck out
his hand, they gave him that 30 pieces of silver. Clink, clink,
clink, clink, clink. He dropped it in the bag, pulled
it back tight. He said, oh boy, I got some money
now. Got some money now, huh? But,
oh, listen. It said in verse 30, He then
having received the sop, he went out immediately. And look what
it said, and it was night. It was night. Now, this is more than a reference
to the time of day. It's more than a reference to
the time of day. It was the hour of the power of darkness. Now
I want you to see this in Luke 22. You need to see this. Luke
22. It's the beginning of the hour
of darkness. In Luke 22 in verse 53. It's
the beginning of the hour of darkness. How it was night is more than
the reference of the time of day. It was the beginning of
the hour of the power of darkness. And they came out to get our
Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 53, our Lord said this,
when I was daily with you in the temple, you stretched no
hands against me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness. Darkness is coming. Darkness
is coming. And it was night, it says, and
it was night that he went out. It was night in Judas's soul.
He turned from the light of this world. He turned from the life,
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And it was night, darkness in
his soul. As Cain went out from the presence
of the Lord, like Balaam, he loved the wages of unrighteousness. And men love darkness rather
than light. You know why? Because their deeds
are evil. They do what they do at night.
But look what our Lord Savior immediately went out. His feet
were swift to shed blood. But then look what our Lord Jesus
says. Therefore, when He was gone out,
after He's gone, you know what our Lord said to His disciples?
Now is the Son of Man glorified. Oh, this is my glory. That Christ
must suffer to enter into His glory. Now is Christ the Son
of Man, the Man Christ Jesus glorified and God, God Himself
is glorified in Him. And oh listen at verse 42, and
if God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself
and shall straightway glorify Him. Everything that's happened
to me, the betrayal, your doubting, your ignorance, you're not understanding
what's happening. He said, this is just for my
glory. This is just for me to be glorified.
This is just for me and God to be glorified in what I do. How
is he going to be glorified in the man betraying him? Because
the scriptures are fulfilled. This is the way that God meant
for him to go to the cross. And now He's glorified. And oh,
bless His holy name. Ain't you grateful that this
happened? That our Savior could be glorified? Ain't you grateful that our Lord
Jesus Christ, after everything was said and done, all this is
happening, that I might be glorified? And that God, my Father, when
He sees me, He's glorified in me. And I'm telling you something.
I don't have a clue who you are and what you are in your heart.
I really, truly don't. You don't in mine, really. But
I do know this. I do know this. That the Lord Jesus does. The Lord Jesus does. One of you shall betray me. They
all went to looking and looking and looking and looking and looking.
They looked at everybody but themselves. And oh, wouldn't it be an awful,
awful thing to hear the Lord Jesus say, what you do, do quickly? And wouldn't it be an awful thing
for you one of these days to walk out of here and never come
back? Somebody told me the other day,
this is how foolish man is. His wife had been going to a
church for a while, And they had taught their grandchildren,
you know, at Christmastime, you know, Santa Claus is going to
bring you this, Santa Claus is going to bring you that. Well,
the preacher heard about that, and this just happened two weeks
ago, here in August. This fella got up and says, there
ain't no such thing as Santa Claus, you know, and that woman
got mad because she said, there ain't nothing, Santa Claus said,
I ain't never going back there again. Of course, she said, there
ain't no Santa Claus. Hurt her feelings because she
told her grandkids Santa Claus is going to do something. Do you think people ain't deceived
and you think people ain't hypocrites and people ain't self-righteous?
I don't care if there's a Santa Claus. You ain't going to hurt
my feelings over saying Santa Claus or not Santa Claus. I ain't
going to quit no matter what you tell me. I'm not. No, no. You can quit
if you want to, but I ain't going to. It don't bother me. It don't bother me. I'm telling
you, you know why? Because I've got Christ. And
I want Christ, and I need Christ. Because I know if I don't have
Him, and He has me, it's not my hold of Him, it's His hold
of me. And Lord, keep me believing,
keep me cleaving, In all, I'd rather be like the
disciples and say, Lord, who is it? And I'd rather know that
when they went out, I'd say, boy, don't think any evil of
them. Put the best spin on whatever
they do. Huh? Don't be a Judas. right in your heart right now,
in your heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ is at the
right hand of God. And as Scott Richardson said,
I tell you, I couldn't tell you the time, he says, you can get
to the Lord Jesus Christ without moving a muscle. Christ's not
down here. Christ's up there. And you can get to Christ in
your heart By saying, Lord Jesus, I'm coming. I'm a sinner. I'm lost, hopeless, I'm helpless,
and I have no ability to save myself. Lord, would you have
mercy on me? Would you have mercy on me? You reckon he would? I believe
he would. Our Father, oh, our blessed,
blessed Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank
you for allowing us this wonderful privilege to talk about our Savior
and his perfections, his glory. And oh, blessed, blessed Savior,
do a work. Oh, Lord, open hearts, open minds,
open understandings. Bring glory to yourself in these.
All of us here gather here tonight. Bring glory to yourself in your
grace. In your love. In your power. In your pity. In your mercy. In your mercy. In your mercy. And in your grace. Glorify yourself
in us. In your blessed holy name I pray.
Amen. Amen.