Turn with me to the book of John,
John chapter 13. And I want to read through verse
30 beginning with verse 18. 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 he. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me. and he 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 the other, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus'
bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, Simon Peter, therefore
beckoning 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 it? Jesus 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 Pope. He then, having received
the sop, went immediately out, and it was night." Now these verses, verses 18-30
of John chapter 13, have to do with the reprobate, Judas. And I want to talk to you a little
bit this morning about that. The Lord had assured His disciples
that they were clean, ever wet. You remember we studied that
last week. He girded himself about with a towel and stooped
down to wash their feet and had this discussion with Peter. And
Peter said, well, if I had no part with thee except you wash
me, wash my head and my face and my hands, just wash me all
over. And he said, no, you don't need washed all over. You're
ever wet clean, just your feet, just your feet. And so He assured
His disciples of that, that by faith His righteousness had been
imputed unto them, and the Word of God Himself dwelt with them,
was there for their daily cleansing. By example, He shows them the
way of faith, humbly serving one another, each one esteeming
the other better than themselves, and having loved his own, it
said He loved them unto the end. In spite of their flaws and weaknesses,
in spite of their ignorance, inabilities and failures, in
spite of their misplaced zeal and pride, He loved them and
He kept them unto the end. But then in verse 18, He turns
to a little darker subject. And He was troubled in heart
when He taught them this lesson, when He declared these things
to them. He said, I speak not of you all, down in verse 18.
I know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled.
Now my message Wednesday night was to this intent. It was to
show that even the strangest of things that happen in our
lives, even the strangest of things that happen, They're overridden by God's eternal
purpose of grace. And so it is even in reprobation. Even in these dark mysteries. I don't know how. I'm not God. I can't tell you and explain
to you anything that would make sense to you about reprobation.
But I know that God has reprobates. He was the son of perdition from
the beginning. Judas Iscariot. Have not I chosen
you twelve? He said it at the table, and
one of you is a devil. But God's eternal purpose of
grace, it overrides in these things, and it has preeminence
over these things, and these things are preceded by that eternal
purpose of God. And so I leave those things in
His hands. things we understand and things
we don't understand. But you can't deny reprobation. The Scripture said, God hath
chosen all things unto himself, yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. Now he said that. I didn't say
that. He did. In the book of Jude, when it
talks about reprobation, he talks about these who crept in unawares,
and he gives several examples. He gives Cain as one example,
and Korah as an example, and these different ones. He says,
these were ordained of old to this condemnation. Peter, he
said unto you, therefore, He's precious. Christ is precious. All the things about Christ is
precious, but unto them who stumble at the stumbling block, who be
disobedient, even whereunto also they were appointed. And now
we see it. Reprobation. His purpose was
preeminent in creation, it's preeminent in providence, preeminent
in salvation, and it's preeminent over all things. And it's preeminent in the lives
of the godly and ungodly of this world. His everlasting purpose of grace
will even be preeminent in judgment, gathering to Himself all things,
He's going to open that book. It says He opened the books and
He judged men out of the things that were written in the book,
but another book was opened, that book of life. And it says
our names were written in there before the foundation of the
world. That purpose of God, that everlasting purpose of grace
has its beginning in eternity and its preeminent over everything
all the way through time right on into eternity. It's preeminent. And I know men despise it. They're
quick to speak against it. A lot of the old writers tried
to explain it and couldn't. Some of them tried to explain
it away. But the Scriptures say very plainly that we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to, now listen, the
purpose of him. That's where it's at. The purpose
of him. according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." The Scriptures present to us
a testimony of God as absolute God. There is not God and then
man and these two reacting one to the other, but there is God
creating man, making man. He is the clay. God is the potter.
We're the created thing. He's the creator. He's absolute
God. God alone, eternal, omnipotent,
everywhere present, all-knowing, self-sufficient. He's God. He
takes counsel from no one. He said, with whom took I counsel? When I laid the foundations of
the earth, where was you? To whom did I take counsel? And who's going to counsel me? He does as he pleases. He asks
permission of no one. And the biggest mistake you'll
ever make is to try and reason who God is beginning with yourself. You have to begin where God begins
His revelation in Himself. and reason down to man. You can't
reason up to God. You can't do that. God is God.
He's absolute God, flawless, uncorruptible, eternal God. He
determines all things, creates all things, rules all things,
arranges all things, and judges all things. And men say, I just don't believe
that. I just don't believe that. You try to tell men who the living
God is according to God's testimony. I can't go beyond that. I have to tell them of God as
He's revealed in this book. I have to give them God's testimony
of Himself. And you give them God's testimony
of themselves and they say, well, I don't believe that. If God
can't be resisted, if God does everything He wills to do and
nobody can do anything about it, how can God still find fault? Romans 9 answers that very question
and it answers it very clearly. The Holy Spirit tells us in Romans
9 that God passed by Israel. If you read that entire chapter,
you'll find out that he totally passed by the nation of Israel
and chose the Gentiles. And that in doing so, he did
not violate his testimony, for all that are Israel are not Israel.
He didn't violate the Word of God, he didn't violate his promise,
he didn't violate his character, but he sovereignly chose the
Gentiles and passed by Israel. It tells us that he loved Jacob
and hated Esau, and that he did it before either one were ever
born, before either one ever did any good or evil. He makes
that perfectly clear. It tells us in Romans chapter
9 that he did what he did to demonstrate to all men for all
times that God's sovereign purpose of election cannot be overturned. You can't ignore it. You can't
resist it. It's just so, and you're going
to have to deal with it. He also tells us very plainly
that His revelation of Himself in Romans chapter 9 from the
very beginning, from the very first time that a man approached
that burning bush and spoke with God, and God revealed Himself
to him, He revealed Him to him as sovereign. Merciful, yes,
but sovereign mercy. Gracious, yes, sovereign grace. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful and whom I will I harden. So that there can be no reason
for argument, no reason for debate. It's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. God took this man called Pharaoh,
raised him up to be the reigning power in Egypt and the reigning
power of the world. And He did it for no other reason
than to show His power, to show the power of His name and His
destruction by burying him in the sea. That's what He says. That's what He says. Romans 9, 18. So therefore hath He mercy on
whom He will have mercy, and whom he will, he'll hearken.
Now, listen to verse 19, Thou wilt say unto me, Why doth he
yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? And here's what he
tells them, Who art thou, O man, that replies against God? Now, when we think about reprobation
and men say to you, well, that can't be. That can't be. How
can God be just and still do that? How can God be absolute
sovereign and still hold man in accountability? Who art thou? Is that what he asked? Who art
thou? How in the world from this seat that you sit in can you
judge the sovereign God who sits on the throne of glory? It's
just ridiculous if you think about it. It would be like me
going up to Washington, D.C. in my bib overhauls and just
walking in there to the Supreme Court and say, what's going on?
They'd usher me out the back door. And that ain't that big
compared to what we do as fallen, depraved sinners when we judge
God about His eternal purpose and judge His character by what
we think and what seems right unto us. We're just peanuts. And we're sitting in judgment
of God. That's what Paul said. And that's
the only answer there is. That's the only answer you'll
ever find to this thing of reprobation and God's absolute sovereignty. Who art thou? Hath not the potter
power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor, another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." Turn with me to the book of Jude. God is not a created thing for
us to look at and evaluate. He's the creator. He's the beginning. He's the firstborn. of every
creature. Over here in the book of Jude,
that's the last epistle in the Bible before Revelation. And it's written by this man and given the title
Jude. Do you know Jude and Judas are
the same word? I didn't until I looked it up. Same identical name. Same. In the original, it's exactly
the same. There's one number in your Strong's
Recordings for Jude, and it's the very same number for Judas.
So here's two vessels. Judas Iscariot and Jude. They're
both apostles. They're both chosen of God. One
of them chosen unto election. And one of them sent forward
as a reprobate. Both of these men, both chosen
of Christ, both apostles, both abiding in the presence of the
Savior, both hearing His words, both hearing His gospel preached,
both saw His gifts demonstrated, both had obtained a part of that
ministry. I've got no reason to believe
that when these other disciples went out casting out devils and
doing all those things that the Lord caused them to do, that
Judas didn't do the same thing. I've got no reason to believe
otherwise. But now watch this here in Jude
verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you and to exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept
in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. ungodly men, turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God,
our Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter said, unto you therefore
which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient,
that same stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, And a rock of offense
even to them would stumble at the word, being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed." You know, the Word of God is
not written for us to sit in judgment of or reason to our
approval. It's written to be received and
obeyed. And brethren, it's just futile
to follow after the God of this world or the God of your imagination
when you know in your heart that one day you must stand in the
presence of the living God. We're going to have to stand
in His presence. Now listen to what God's prophet
says here in Psalms. Psalm 50, verse 16, But unto
the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,
or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth, seeing
thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee?
Your judgment is perverse, he tells them, consenting to their
crimes, compromising justice. You give your mouth to evil and
your tongue to deceit. You speak against your own brother
without compassion or love. And you thought all the while
that I was altogether such a one as yourself." That's what he
said. That's what the reprobate does.
The reprobate sits in judgment of the Word of God, the Gospel
of God, and God's testimony of himself. He sits in judgment
of those things and he reasons from himself up to God. And in
reasoning those things, he sees God as himself in comparison
with himself. And so his God becomes an idol. It becomes a figment of his imagination. You know, in Romans chapter 1,
let me see if I can find that real quick and read it to you. He says over here in Romans chapter
1, Because that when they knew God,
they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but become
vain in their imagination, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools and change
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto
corruptible man." And then from there, he goes downhill. Birds,
four-footed beasts, and creeping things. But here's where he begins
with man. All men are reprobate in the
fall of Adam, but by the grace of God. All a reprobate is, is
a man that God's lifted His hand from. Did I put that article
in this week's bulletin about reprobation? It's not God's taking
somebody who would otherwise have been good. See, all the
disciples here, in my reading to you there a while ago in John
chapter 13, They all looked around and questioned that it couldn't
be the one next to them. It just couldn't be. They couldn't
figure out who it might be. In their eyes, they were all
good. None of them were reprobate.
It's not God's taking somebody who was otherwise good and making
them go bad, forcing them to go bad. It's just lifting His
hand, His restraining hand off of them that gave them that appearance
of being good. I took a bunch of that article out. Part of
that article was this, from our Wednesday night study there where
Abimelech came before God and he'd taken Sarah, but he hadn't
violated Sarah. And Abraham had told him that
this was my sister, not his wife. And so he led him to believe
it was okay to take him, and the king was within his rights.
And so he pleaded his integrity and his righteousness before
God. And God said, I know the thoughts of your heart. He said,
because I put them there. I put them there. I withheld
thee from sinning against me, and I suffered thee not to touch
her. You see what I'm saying? God's restraining hand was in
him, but he mistook it for personal righteousness. And that's the
way men do. And that's the way all reprobates
do. The reason why they can creep in, like Jude said, unawised,
is because they have the appearance of being good. What gives them
that appearance? God. God. His restraining hand
has kept them from doing certain things. And so they have the
appearance of being good. But they get in, and God lifts
His hand. When He lifts His hand, what
they really are comes out. That's what a reprobate is. You
can read 2 Thessalonians 2. You'll see the same thing in
2 Thessalonians 2. You'll see that, "...only he
that now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way."
When he takes off you that restraining hand, then you're going to be
deceived. You're going to be deceived by that old spirit of
Antichrist. He's going to move in. He's going
to take over. And you're going to believe a
lie. You won't receive the love of the truth that you might be
saved, and you are going to latch on to that lie. And God is going
to damn you for doing it. God will damn you for doing it. There is no variableness in God.
There is no change in God. I am the Lord. I change not.
And the reprobates of this world Those eternally chosen and blessed
of God, they're a constant reminder to us that God is God. God is
God. Why? Here's two men, Judas and
Peter. They both did virtually the same
thing. They did virtually the same thing. Peter denied Him
being the Christ. Judas sold him out. Judas was intimidated by the
Jews. He was intimidated by money.
He was intimidated by gain and all sorts of things. Peter was
intimidated by a little Jewish maiden standing next to the fire. A few minutes before, he was
bragging to them, though they all might forsake you. I know
them pretty well. They probably will, but I'm not. You're the one. You're exactly
the one that's going to do it. Exactly the one. That's a constant
reminder of both Judas. He said, I'm telling you this
before it happens so that when it happens, now watch this over
here in John 13. Down in verse 18, he said, I
speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen. But that
the Scripture might be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me
lifteth up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it come
to pass, that when it has come to pass, now look here in verse
19, that you may believe that I am." See that he in italics? Lift that out. What's he telling them? I told
you this before it come to pass so that when it come to pass
you might believe that I'm God. Ain't that what he's telling
them? That's exactly what he's telling them. I'm God. I'm God. I'll have mercy on whom I will
and whom I will I'll hurt. and the reprobates of this world,
and those eternally chosen and blessed of God, are a constant
reminder to us that God is God. And woe unto him that striveth
with his Maker, Isaiah 6. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of this earth. Shall the clay say to him that
formed it, see where Paul went? He went back there right in Isaiah
where he's talking about these very things, and that's the things
he quoted in Romans 9. Shall the clay say unto him that
fashioned it, What makest thou or thy work? God hath no hands."
Oh, I tell you, teach me to know my place, to remember that I'm
just clay. There's no difference between
me and the lowest thing on this earth except the grace of God.
No difference between me and Judas than the grace of God. me and those men down in Sodom
than the grace of God. What have you gotten, Paul said,
that you haven't received? Huh? It was all a gift of God's
grace, wasn't it? Now, he said, if you received
it, why do you glory like you didn't? Rush up like a bimolec into the
face of God and start telling him about your integrity? Reprobation is God turning a
man over to Himself. He says that I don't know how
many times in Romans 1. And then there's two phrases,
and this may help you in thinking about reprobation. In Romans
9, He uses two phrases. You can look at them. He calls
one, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. That's all they're
fit for. Barnard, in talking about hell
one time, I remember him saying that the only thing you can do
to a mad dog is put him where he can't hurt anybody else. Hell
is where God's going to put all his mad dogs. They're fitted
to destruction. That's all they're fit for. It's
their nature and character that justly demands their end. They
have light, but they prefer darkness. They have means, but they choose
to ignore them. And they have God's testimony,
but they do not approve of it. And Judas, though he was an apostle,
he was never changed within. I don't have to go very far.
Just back up one chapter there in John. Mary took that spikenard, a whole
pound of spikenard. And came in and anointed the
Lord's feet and wiped His feet with her hair. She was the only
one in that whole outfit that understood that He was going
to His death. And she anointed Him for His
death. He says that. The only one who
knew. And Judah stood by and he said,
what a waste. What a waste. We could have took
that and sold that for 300 pence. Could have sold it for 300 pence.
Let me see if I can find it back here real quick. Could have sold
it for 300 pence and given to the poor. This he said. Now watch this. Not that he cared
for the poor. He didn't care for the poor.
Why did he say it? Because he was a thief and had
to buy it. He wanted that money for himself.
That's what it is. He was never changed within.
Judas wasn't. He was a pretense. Pretense. Psalm 109, verses 6-20, it talks
about Judas. Verse 17, it says, As he loved
cursing, so let it come unto him. As he delighted not in blessing,
so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing,
like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like
water and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment
which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let it be the reward of mine
adversaries of the Lord, and of them that speak evil against
my soul. I want to show you one more thing.
Have you got your place over there in Psalm 109? Turn over there and let me show
you one thing and I'll close this down. I want to show you something
that only a blessed few can see. See, those verses I just quoted
to you, that's just a few of them, but there's quite a few
verses there in Psalm 109 that speak exactly and explicitly
about Judas. But listen to what he said. I
didn't discover this until after I'd read that, contemplated it,
the seriousness of it, and so on. I was talking with Don about
it on the phone, and then I called him right back about ten minutes
later, and I said, look at this. I said, I've never seen this.
Listen to what he says before he pronounced the curse. Psalm
109, verse 4. For my love they are mine adversaries. And when you think about reprobation
and when you think about the sons of perdition and those with
whom God has lifted His hand, you think about the sin and fall
of Adam from the very beginning and man being cursed. God did
not create that sin as an evil. He created that sin with an end
in mind. And that end in mind was to bestow
this love and grace and mercy according to His everlasting
purpose and grace. And it's a part of it.