Now my subject tonight is both
sad and solemn. It's a subject full of serious
warning to every hypocrite, and a subject full of instructive
consolation to believing sinners. I want to talk to you about the
betrayal of our Savior. Turn with me through Wilton Luke,
chapter 22. Luke 22. And listen carefully while I
make a couple of statements. We are plainly taught in this
book there is but one gospel. Paul said, I declare unto you
the gospel. The gospel is never referred
to as a gospel. It is the gospel. The glorious
good news. It is not good advice. It is
good news. It is not a message encouraging
you to do something, but rather a message declaring to you that
Christ has done everything. The gospel. The gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ, our crucified sovereign savior,
is the gospel, Paul said, which I preached unto you. I take his
words as my very own. This is the gospel which I have
preached to you. Every time you've heard Me stand
in this place to speak. This is the gospel I have preached
to you. The gospel which you received. Aren't you glad? Received it because He graciously
forced you to, but you've received it. Received it with willing
hearts, gladly, because He made you willing in the day of His
power. It is the gospel by which You have been saved. What a word. What a word. The preacher, I
thought, salvation is the work of God the Holy Spirit. It is
entirely His work. Entirely His work. And He works
by the use of specified means. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. This is the word by which we
have been begotten, born again by God the Holy Spirit. That's
the language of Holy Scripture. God the Holy Spirit graciously
takes such things as he finds in the dung heap of fallen humanity
like you and me. Puts his grace in us. And he
deliberately chooses that which is base and vile and insignificant
and nothing and nobody. That means we qualify as a good
group of folks for God to use. He uses just such things as we
are. to carry the treasure of his grace to chosen sinners around
the world. Why does he do that? That no
flesh should glory in his presence. He uses such means as you and
me to proclaim the gospel to sinners around the world and
give them life by the gospel. So that anybody who sees what
God has done, look at that and say, well, God must have done
it. It sure wouldn't have, folks. This is God's work. This is God's
work. This is the gospel wherein ye stand. Oh, how blessed to
stand. Firmly planted. fixed and immovable because God
causes us to stand upon a rock that is higher than I. And what
is this gospel? It is the declaration of H.O.W. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the scripture. The gospel is not merely the
declaration of historic facts relating to the death of Christ.
You can read a history book and read that Jesus Christ died.
You can read a theology book and read that he died as it was
written of him in the scriptures. The gospel is the declaration
of how he died, how he died for the sins of his people, and how
that he did it according to the scriptures. How did he die? He
died voluntarily of his own will. No compulsion except the compulsion
of his love caused him to die. He died vicariously. Died in
the room instead of somebody. Not everybody. If he died for
everybody, one of two things must be declared. Either everybody
is saved and going to heaven, or nobody is going to be saved.
One of the two. Because he died for everybody,
and not everybody is saved, then he's no savior at all. He's a
miserable failure, as worthless as your own spirit. To suggest
that he died for everybody and everybody not saved is to declare
that he is no God at all, but just the idolatrous figment of
man's imagination. Universal Redemption is the most
horrible, blasphemous doctrine that has ever been invented by
men. Horribly evil. It is an utter
denial of Jesus Christ as our God. The Gospel is the declaration
that Jesus Christ This one who voluntarily laid down his life
for his sheep, for our sins, for the purpose of removing our
sins, for the purpose of saving us from our sins, died victoriously. He did exactly what he intended
to do when he died. This is the gospel we declare
unto you. And yet, it is very important
for us to understand that our Lord Jesus Christ's death, everything
relating to his death, everything relating to his death, did you
hear me? Everything relating to his death
was written in detail in the Old Testament Scriptures. And
when it came time for him in due time to lay down his life
for his people, He died exactly as it was written of Him in the
Old Testament Scriptures. And this is nowhere more clearly
seen than in the betrayal. Here in Luke chapter 22, verse
3. Let's read verses 3 through 6 and then in a few minutes we'll
get down to verse 47. Then entered Satan into Judas,
surnamed Iscariot. being of the number of the twelve.
And he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains,
how he might betray him unto them. And they, these chief priests, these fine religious folks, Everybody said it was good. 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 secretly. Judas Iscariot. There are four
men named Jude or Judas. in the New Testament. Jude, who
wrote the epistle of Jude, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus,
the brother of James, he is that Judas who's described in John
14, who said to the Savior as he was giving out those marvelous
instructions in John 14, he said, I'll come and manifest myself
to you. He said, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself
unto us and not unto the world? There's another Jude mentioned
in Acts chapter 9. You remember after Saul of Tarsus
had been stricken down on the Damascus road and the Lord Jesus
revealed himself to him, he went to a man's house. He went to
a man's house who lived in a street called Strait down in Damascus.
That's not accidental. And Ananias was sent down there
to meet Saul of Tarsus to tell him what he must do now because
he was a chosen vessel to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. There's
a third Jew, or Judas, surnamed Barcibus. You see him in Acts
chapter 15, after the Jerusalem conference, the apostles sent
him with letters relating to the conference and the suggestions
that were made to the Gentile church at Antioch. And here is
Judas Iscariot, the traitor, the betrayer of our Lord. His
name was Judas, but he was surnamed Iscariot. I don't know who surnamed
him Iscariot, but I know it was by the order of divine providence.
The word means the man of murder. I reckon why daddy would put
that name on his boy, except God ordained it. Judas, surnamed
the man of murder. It had been better for this man,
our Lord said, if he had never been born then. It's important for us to note
the time here identified by the Holy Spirit when Judas had Satan
to enter into his heart that he might betray the Savior. This
took place, now listen carefully, we're going to look at some scriptures
and I want you to see clearly what I'm saying. This took place
two days before the Passover. It happened while our Savior
was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper. You know what's
recorded concerning that feast that was made for him by Simon
the leper. While he was there, Mark tells
us that something happened that seemed to trigger this wickedness,
this hatred, the outward expression of Judas' utter hatred of the
Son of God. There was a woman who was a sinner
who came with an alabaster box of ointment, spiked and very
precious. And she knelt down and broke that alabaster box,
fragrance filled the air. And she anointed the Savior as
an act of faith. The Lord Jesus said, she did
this for my burial. She seems to have been the only
one of all his disciples who really understood what he said,
I'm going yonder to die for you. She seemed to be the only one
who really understood that this was the time, the Messiah has
come and now he's about to lay down his life for us. And she
comes with gratitude and love. bursting in her heart, and she
takes this precious spikenard worth at least a year's wages. Breaks it. Began to wash his feet with her
tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head and kissed
his feet. And the disciples said, why this waste? They didn't openly
say it, but there was a murmuring among them. Look, what a waste. What a waste. Look what we could
have done with this money. Look what we could have done
with that. Why this waste? And the Lord Jesus said, you
leave this girl alone. And He said something about what
she did that He never said about anything anybody else ever did. She hath wrought a good work
on me. It was done just for Him. just for His glory. It was a
work of great sacrifice, and it was a work of faith, and a
work of love. And the Master said, she hath
done what she could. David, that's what we've got
to do, what we can. That's all. She hath done what
she could. And I'm telling you, wherever
the Gospel is preached from this day on, This thing that she's
done shall be spoken of as a memorial to her. You know what the next
words are in Mark chapter 14? Listen, you don't have to turn
there. Mark chapter 14, and Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve,
went unto the chief priest to betray him unto them. Next word. That seems to be the thing that
triggered this toward the Son of God. In John
chapter 13, you can turn there if you will, John tells us that
this time when Mark, or when Luke is telling us, then entered
Satan into Judas, John tells us this happened before the supper in Bethany,
before the supper at Simon's house was ended. In John chapter
13 verse 2, while they were at the table in Simon's house, The
Lord Jesus rose from supper and washed his disciples' feet. Now,
contrary to what we commonly think when we read John 13, this
was not at the Lord's Supper. Clearly was not at the Lord's
Supper. Those who suggest we ought to have foot washing when
we have the Lord's Supper, because the Lord Jesus did it here, this
was not at the Lord's Supper. Our Lord's still in Bethany.
He's still at the house of Simon the leper. And he rises from
supper, washes his disciples' feet, and as he does so, he plainly
told his disciples that one of them would betray him. And when
they wondered which of them would do the horrible deed, the master
identified him plainly. Look at verse 26. He it is to
whom I shall give sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped
the sop, He gave it to Jesus. Read on. And after the shock,
Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That
thou doest, do quickly. Though the Lord Jesus had spoken
plainly. He said, now, you're asking me who it is that's going
to betray me? The fellow that I take this piece of bread, dip
it in the gravy, and say, here, have a bite. That's the one that's
going to do it. And he dipped the bread in the
gravy, and he said, Judas, have a bite. Judas took a bite, and
he got up and walked out to go betray the master. But the disciples,
they just I mean, they just didn't get a clue of what was happening.
They didn't have an idea. But Judas, having received the
psalm, we're told in verse 30, went immediately out to betray
the master. Now, back in Luke 22. Immediately following the suffering
of Bethany, while Judas was making his dastardly deal with the chief
priest, The Lord Jesus sends Peter and John into Jerusalem
to prepare for the Passover. And then when he had come to
the appointed hour, he sat down with the apostles, sat down with
the twelve apostles with him in verse 14. And he did this
to keep the Passover feast because our Lord Jesus as a man must
all the days of his life walk in strict obedience to God's
holy law, performing all things exactly according to the law
if he would establish righteousness for us by his obedience to the
law. And so he comes here this last
time to keep the Passover. He said, I've desired to do this.
He said, fellas, this is what's been on my heart since the day
I came in this world. This is what's been on my heart
since the day God said, let there be light, and there was light.
This is what's been on my heart from everlastingly. With desire,
I've desired to come to this hour, for now I'm about to accomplish
everything signified here. And in verses 19 and 20, our
Lord Jesus established for us the blessed gospel ordinance
of the Lord's Supper that we're about to observe again tonight.
And I've said all that because I want you to understand this.
Judas was now at the table. He's at the table with our Lord
Jesus and his disciples, and this is not guesswork. This is
not guesswork. After making his hellish deal
to betray the Son of God, he came back and came to this large
upper room in Jerusalem. and kept the first observance
of the Lord's Supper with the Lord Jesus and his disciples.
Look at verse 21. But behold, the hand of him that
betrayeth me is with me on the table. That's plain enough, isn't
it? That's plain enough. Judas was
right there. He was right there. And truly the Son of Man goeth
as it was determined of him, but woe unto that man by whom
he is betrayed. What a base, crass, bold-faced,
hard-hearted hypocrite Judas must have been. Most are. Nothing will make a man more
bold than hypocrisy, because he's got something he's got to
prove. Nothing will make a man more bold, more brazen, relentlessly
set and determined than his hypocrisy. Apparently, Judas came back,
went with the disciples at the appointed place into the upper
room, and the Lord Jesus there sits down with him, and Judas
puts his head right on the table. Here I am. Here I am. Look, boys, here I am. for no
other reason except to cover his tracks. He had no interest
in what was going on there. But there he is sitting with
the Son of God and his apostles as the Savior established this
blessed ordinance of sweet communion. Didn't you find it ironically
instructive that he went out to the chief priest, got up from
the supper at Bethany where the Lord Jesus had washed his disciples'
feet, And he went to the chief priest and communed with them. And he comes back here and pretends
to commune with the Son of God. Why is this so important, Pastor?
There are multitudes of almost all, shall we say, conservative,
Protestant, religious people. Multitudes of men who believe,
I don't say claim to believe, men who truly do believe the
gospel of God's free grace. Who would teach us and demand
that we must fence the table. That sounds like a good sanctified
term, doesn't it? Put a fence around it so you
can't get to it. Doesn't sound so good that way,
does it? By that, this is what they mean. We must not allow
there be any possibility that someone comes to the Lord's table
who is somehow unworthy to come, somehow not quite fit to come,
and heaven forbid that we allow an unbeliever to come. Reckon
how you're going to figure who that person is. Oh, well, I have
my ways of knowing because I'm spiritual enough I can judge
such things. Oh, what hard, cruel, divisive doctrine such doctrine
is. People make a big issue of saying
we practice closed communion, closed communion. Now, you listen
carefully, listen carefully to what I'm saying. established by our Redeemer,
is for believers only. I don't encourage, we don't encourage
anyone to come here and observe the Lord's Supper with us. I
would never dream of suggesting, I would never dream of suggesting
that somebody in our family is visiting, oh come go to church
with us tonight, we're going to have the Lord's Table. I'd never suggest such
a thing, never, never. unbelievers, those who are identified
by the Apostle Paul as those who do not discern the Lord's
body, to eat and drink the Lord's supper, eat and drink unworthily,
because they do not discern the Lord's body. What on earth does
that mean? They don't understand who Christ
is, what He has accomplished and why He's accomplished it.
They don't know their need of a Redeemer. If ever you come
to know your need of a Redeemer, you're going to know it because
you deserve the Lord's body. He came here, God in human flesh,
accomplished redemption for me, a sinner who deserves His wrath.
To eat and drink unworthily is to eat and drink damnation to
yourself. You see, religion without Christ
is not good for people. How many times have you been
guilty? Don't raise your hand. You say, concerning a husband,
wife, mother, father, brother, sister, son or daughter, well,
at least they're going to church. I'm so glad. Darwin couldn't be anything more
dangerous for them. Couldn't be anything more dangerous.
To assume that you know God when you don't know God, in every
practice of religion, every song sung, every verse read, every
time you take the bread or wine, every time you think about how
good you are now because you are a child of God, is to eat
and drink damnation to yourself. Nothing more dangerous to a human
being than religion without Christ. Sometimes people wonder, they
come in here and watch us and join us in our worship services.
Well, why don't y'all have an altar call? Why don't y'all pressure
folks to make a profession of faith? Mamas and daddies sometimes
wonder, why don't you... their children want to talk to
me and they're concerned. Why don't you talk them into
making a profession of faith? Baptize them! because I care
too much for your souls and theirs than to do so." To give folks
false hope is to delude them. But, now while this is an ordinance
that unbelievers must not partake of, the ordinance is for believers. No unbeliever is worthy to receive
the bread and wine in remembrance of the Savior. But no believer
is unworthy. We just had our daughter, son-in-law,
our two grandbabies. Now, I don't look like it now,
but when I was growing up, I was often beat. I'm not talking about spanked,
paddled, or dismounted. I was beat and sent to bed hungry. You get hungry enough, you'll
learn your lesson. I wouldn't dream of sending one
of them away from the table. I wouldn't dream of, mmm, no,
lock the pantry. Afraid he'll get the wrong stuff
and eat it. No, get anything you want to, but it's yours.
It's yours. This is the table for God's children. It's spread for you who trust
the Son of God. who are united to him by faith,
washed in his blood, robed in his righteousness, spread for
you purposefully, no matter what your condition is in your present
experience. No matter what you've done five
minutes ago. No matter what's going through
your heart just now. Not only are all who are washed
in the blood and robed in the righteousness of Christ worthy
to receive this ordinance, we are all commanded by our Savior
to observe it and to observe it often, remembering Him. But Brother Don, who makes the
decision? Who determines who's worthy and unworthy? Only you. Only you. If you're a believer,
This table's for you. When these men come and pass
out the bread and wine, I deliberately don't even look up. I don't even
want to know who takes it and who doesn't. Somebody says, well,
they're taking communion now. I don't want to know. That's
not my business. That's not my business. I don't
want it. I no more want to know who receives
the bread and wine than I want to know what you gave an offering
this morning. I have no interest in those things. That's not my
business. Well, don't you think you need to be aware of that
thing? No. No. You deacons, it's not your business. You members of this church, not
your business. Not your business. Let every man examine himself. Prove your own selves. Know your
own selves, whether you be in the faith. And of course, that's
the only issue. Are you in the faith? Oh, but
I'm so cold-hearted. That's the reason He gave the
ordinance. But I'm so empty. That's the reason He gave the
ordinance. But I'm so sinful. That's the reason He gave the
ordinance. But brother Don, you don't know. I don't need to know
what's going on. If you trust the Son of God, He said, take
this bread, take this wine, eat it, and drink it all in remembrance
of Me. Remembering Me in faith and gratitude. The Lord Jesus knew that Judas
was a devil from the beginning. He knew that Judas had already
made arrangements to betray him for 30 pieces of silver. He spoke
so pointedly to Judas about these things that Judas had no excuse
for his hellish hypocrisy. But the master did absolutely
nothing. He didn't do one thing to keep
Judas from taking that bread and drinking that wine. Not one
thing. He didn't pass it to John and
get to Judas and look at himself. He didn't do a thing. Not a thing. And then we're told in verse
3, Judas was of the number of the twelve. In verse 44, he was
one of the twelve. of the number of the twelve,
one of the twelve. Now stop and think about that.
This is the most elite group of human beings who ever walked
on this earth. These are the apostles of Jesus
Christ. Judas is numbered among them.
And yet one of the twelve is Judas Iscariot, the man of murder. When the Lord Jesus chose Judas
to the office of an apostle, he knew he was a devil, we're
told in John 6. When he commissioned the others,
he commissioned Judas with him. when he sent the others out to
preach and sent them out to heal the sick, when he sent those
other ones out preaching the kingdom of God, Judas was among
them. And I have no doubt at all that Judas performed the
same wonders those other men performed. I don't have any question
about it. I don't have any question about it. If he hadn't, they
would all have been suspicious. Now, why? Why all this? Rather than questioning these
things, we ought to immediately recognize if this has come to
pass. If the Lord Jesus deliberately
chose one who was a devil to be numbered among his apostles
and sent him out and sat him down at his table and never identified
him, surely he must have some wise, gracious purpose for doing
so. Indeed he does. Let me share
a few with you. Learn this first. In spite of
everything, Judas did. Now remember who he is, what
he did. I suspect the murmuring among
the disciples back there at Bethany I suspect Judas was the instigator. If I blamed him for something
he didn't do, I apologize, but I suspect he was the instigator.
He was the one who carried the bag, and he loved it. Think of everything he did. The cunning, the deceit, the
hypocrisy, the betrayal, what confusion must have arisen after
his words. But in all that he did, are you
listening? He caused no harm to the cause
of Christ, the church of Christ, or the purpose of God. He caused no harm. He caused
no harm. Oh, but had it not been for his
betrayal, the Master hadn't died! Like I said, he caused no harm.
He caused no harm. Oh, uneasiness among the disciples. Tension. Maybe friction. No harm. No harm. Had Judas not
fallen, you see, there are only twelve apostles. In spite of
what the papists and others would tell you, there are no apostles
today. There are only twelve apostles.
Only twelve. They are described as being the
gates of the New Jerusalem, like the twelve tribes of Israel are
the foundation of the New Jerusalem. That is, these twelve tribes
of Israel through whom God gave his law, these twelve apostles
through whom God gave his word, these are the means by which
God brings his people into his kingdom. And there are only twelve
of them. Twelve of them. Had it not been
for Judas' fall, there would have been no room for the apostle
Paul. He failed to make room for that
one who was ordained not to be numbered among the apostles,
but to be an apostle. Here's something else. Judas
was a man specifically raised up. to stand as a glaring beacon
to warn all men, telling all men that outward religion without
inward grace is not only useless, it's damning. Jesus was chosen
to be a preacher, even an apostle. Without question, without question,
he preached exactly the same doctrine the apostles preached.
The doctrine of Christ. He preached exactly what you
hear regularly from this pulpit. Exactly the same doctrine. No
question about that. But Judas was a devil. He was
never born again. He had no grace in his heart. He was not made a partaker of
Christ. He never partook of the grace
of God in the experience of his soul. This is what Paul meant when
he said, bodily exercise profiteth little. Sitting here in the church
house three or four times a week, reading your Bible, singing your
hymns, giving your money, saying your prayers, profits little. Nothing for you. Nothing. But godliness. which brings contentment. Christ in you. Grace in you. Godliness with contentment. Who can describe the gain of
that? Judas was nothing but an outward,
empty-hearted professor of faith in Christ, not a possessor of
grace. Turn to Acts chapter 1 for a
minute. He was an apostle, a messenger of God, but only in name. Look how Peter describes him
by inspiration, Acts 117. He was numbered with us and obtained part of this ministry. It didn't say he was one of us,
it said he was numbered with us. Didn't say he was involved
in this ministry, but he obtained part of it. What part? The shell. The outer part. No more. He had the name and the office,
the duties and the doctrine, the fame and the function of
an apostle, but nothing else. He was ordained of men, but not
of God. He was not gifted with grace.
He was forceful, I have no doubt, but not faithful. His doctrine,
I don't doubt, was profound and precise, but not pure. It may
have elevated a person's thinking, but it wouldn't edify their souls. It would swell their head, but
it wouldn't sanctify their hearts. Multitudes, I fear, there are
just like Judas today standing in pulpit. That was Judas. He was a devil
from the beginning and he remained a devil to the end of his days
until he had filled up to measure his iniquity. Then he went to
his own place. We should never be surprised. We should never be surprised
to find such men in the church today. And it should not surprise
us that those men often go completely undetected, even by faithful
men. In the last day, many will come
and say, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in thy name? Have
we not prophesied in thy name? Have we not done great wonders
in thy name? And I will say to them, Depart from me, ye cursed,
I never knew you." Yes, our Savior had wise and gracious designs
in this. He knew that pears would grow
together with the wheat until the harvest. He knew that as
long as God's people are in this world, his church would ever
be a mixed multitude, both of precious and vile, believers
and unbelievers. Wherever the good fish are gathered
in the net, you're bound to get some carps. It's going to happen.
Wherever sheep are gathered, goats come in. That's just the
way it is. But the precious and the vile
shall never be mixed. There is a great gulf fixed between
the two and that that gulf shall never be crossed. Tares will
never become wheat. Goats will never be turned into
sheep. Bad fish will never be turned
into good fish. It's not going to happen. No
harm will come to God's people. No doubt another design of our
Savior in this is to make us understand that
his people in this world, though mingled with unbelievers and
false prophets, though disturbed by them and
all the things they cause, though living with them, will lose nothing because of
them. Here we are in the house of God
tonight. And if there are a few goats
gathered with us, or even a roaring lion waiting in wait, if the
Master's with us, what do you reckon they're going to hear? What joy do you reckon they can
take away if He comes and speaks peace to your heart? None at
all. None at all. You are the temple
of God. The temple of God is holy, which
temple you are. If any man defile the temple
of God, Paul said, the word defile is divide. Cause disruption. Him will God
destroy. But the temple will be alright.
No harm coming. And then we're told in verse
47 that Judas betrayed the Savior with a kiss. The Lord Jesus is in the Garden
of Gethsemane. He's finished praying. He found
his disciples sleeping for sorrow and told them, he said, rise
up and pray lest you enter into temptation. And in verse 47,
while he yet spake, behold a multitude and he that was called Judas,
one of the twelve went before them and drew near unto Jesus
to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas,
betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? When they which
were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord,
shall we smite with a sword? And one of them, we know now
he was Peter, took out his fisherman's knife and smote the servant of
the high priest and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered
and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear and healed
him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and to the captains of
the temple and the elders which were come to him, be ye come
out as against the thief with swords and staves. When I was
daily with you in the temple, you stretched forth no hands
against me, but this is your hour, the power of darkness. Then took they him and led him
and brought him into the house, into the high priest's house. Now here's a multitude, an angry
mob of Jews, principally made up of their chief men, the chief
priest and others, and a band of Roman soldiers, a large band
of soldiers. And we read in Acts 1, Judas
was guide to them, which took him. Why such a huge crowd? They're coming to arrest a man
who's known as the carpenter's son. A man about whom and associated
with whom there's never been any report of any violence. Ever notice reading history books
or just in our lifetime folks who have peaceful protest? I grew up in the South during
the Civil Rights. Now, forgive me if I cause offense to somebody.
My intention is not to cause offense, but during the Civil
Rights, they talked about Martin Luther King's peaceful demonstrations. You ought to have been around
some of them. There wasn't anything peaceful
about it. But this man, there was nothing, nothing ever indicating
any kind of violence or disturbance about this man, nothing. But
here they come, a multitude, and a band of soldiers, armed
with swords and spears, to take this one man. Why? You know,
it may just be they were terrified. They knew this man claimed to
be the Son of God. I know they knew that. They knew
his disciples worshipped him as the Son of God. We know that
because one of them, when it was all done and the Master Christ,
it's finished, he said, surely that man is the Son of God. Amen. Now I know the princes
of this world would not have crucified the Lord of Glory had
they known who he was. Paul tells us that. They did
not know him in any experiential way. But these men knew they
were dealing with one who was himself recognized by multitudes
as God. Maybe he is. Besides that, when
they came against him, the Lord Jesus Show them who he was. Read John 18. When they were
standing there, you remember Peter cut off Malchus's right
ear? This man they're fixing to arrest. Put it back on. Right in front of him. Right
in front of him. They had heard of his miracles.
Judas had seen them. Judas had seen them. He was there
when in Luke chapter 4 they took the Lord Jesus and would have
shoved Him over the cliff to get rid of Him. And the Master
just vanished out of their midst. In fact, when He made His hellish
covenant with the chief priest, He said, Now when I come up there
and I lead you to Him, just as soon as I kiss Him, See that
you bind him and hold him fast." Judas, I don't doubt, was terrified
at what he was doing. Terrified. But why was all this
done? Because Christ must die according
to the Scriptures. The Scriptures said he had to
be betrayed by one who was known as his own familiar friend, One
in whom he trusted or confided. Whenever the Lord spoke to the
rest of his disciples, Judas was there. When he told them
his secrets, Judas was there. He had to be betrayed by one
who was called his own familiar friend, one in whom he confided,
and one who had eaten of his bread. You can read it in Psalm
41. Therefore, Judas is the man. According to the scripture, the
sacrifice for sin, Psalm 118 declares, had to be bound to
the horns of the altar. And so the Lord Jesus voluntarily
stretches out His hands to these men whom He had already knocked
down by the mere exercise of His will. He stretches out His
hands for them to bind Him. Like Isaac was voluntarily bound
to the altar, that one who was typical of our Savior. And this
wicked band of murderous men was made up of both Jews and
Gentiles because the Scriptures declared, Why do the heathen
rage and the people imagine a vain faith, and the kings of the earth
and the rulers take counsel against the Lord and against His anointing?
Well, Brother Don, you're just guessing that that's what Psalm
2 is talking about. Let's see. Turn to Acts chapter
4. After chapter 4, verse 25, God, who by the mouth
of thy servant David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and
the people imagine a vain thing? Verse 26, the kings of the earth
stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the
Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
watch this, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. And then they did a strange thing.
They did a strange thing. These Roman soldiers took the
Lord Jesus. Now remember, these are Roman
soldiers who despised the Jews. They were slaves to the Romans
at this time, captive to the Romans. The Romans hated the
Jews, looked upon them with utter contempt. These Roman soldiers
were the governor's soldiers. They weren't acting on orders
from the high priest. They weren't inclined to please
the Jews or the high priest. But the governor sends them to
arrest the Lord Jesus. And what's the first thing they
do with him? They took him to the high priest. Why? Why? It sure wasn't because they were
inclined to please the Jews. They acted contrary to their
own base hatred of these Jews, honoring their religion. Not
only that, it's most likely they act in open disobedience to the
governor's orders. I kindly doubt the Roman governor
said, now go arrest him and take him to the high priest. He would
have said, go arrest him and bring him here to the judgment
hall, I'll deal with him. But they took him to the high
priest. How come? Because Leviticus chapter 1 requires
in the law that the sacrifice for sin must first be brought
to the priest. Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures. You see, during this whole thing,
While our Lord Jesus is as a lamb, laying as a lamb to the slaughters,
and opens not his mouth, and is as a sheep before his shearers
is dumb, refusing to speak, refusing to lift up his voice, and cry
in the streets as if in despair, he goes meekly away. But this one who goes meekly
away to the judgment hall and to the cross and to the tomb
as our substitute goes there in absolute control ordering
the hearts of men, even Judas and these Roman soldiers. These
men with Judas, can you imagine how terrified they must have
been on this occasion? Can you imagine? Judas was scared
to death. He was scared. I don't have any
question. This is a redundant, silly comparison,
but it's the only thing I can come up with. When I was a boy,
I was a scrapper. And usually, it involved older,
bigger fellas. But I ain't never run. And I
had been terrified because I got myself overloaded, but I wasn't
about to back down. It's called pride. Now here is
a demonstration of the utter depravity and debauchery of man's
proud heart and his bound will. Here these men stand, these Roman
soldiers, these chief priests. They've seen him, the master,
demonstrate his Godhead. Visibly! Put some hands here,
back home. Visibly! He calls these fellas
to fall away backwards and rise up again. I'll guarantee you they were
quaking throughout their bodies standing before him. and they
start to lead him away. Why wouldn't they quit? Why wouldn't
they let him go? Why wouldn't they say, no! I'm
not going to do this! Because man will not act contrary
to the determination of his wicked heart ever. Not even in the face
of judgment. Not even when he's terrified.
Not even when he's cast into hell. He's unchanged. He's unchanged
unless God intervenes. He won't repent unless God gives
him repentance. I don't care how much legal conviction
he has. I don't care how terrified he
is of hell. I don't care what happens. You
will never trust the Son of God until God himself to believe on his son with a
willing heart. Until he gives you a will to
believe, you can't believe. Now, as a result of all this,
Judas went to his home place. Oh, what a spectacle his death
must have been. He went out terrified and hanged
himself. He went to hell, Darthen, by
his own hand. When he did, he fell to the ground,
and his bowels gushed out. And in hell, forever, this worm gnaws in his soul,
and this fire burns in his soul. His screaming conscience cries,
would to God I had never been born. Would to God I had never
been born. I betrayed the Son of God. And here I am, because God is
just. And the Lord Jesus went to his
own place. He went to the place for which the world was made.
He went to Mount Calvary, died as our substitute, put away our
sins, obtained eternal redemption, and went up to glory and sat
down as our king priest on his throne to give eternal life to
as many as the Father has given him. I'm going to my own place in
eternal glory by His sovereign free grace. Amen.