You can be sure that what he
said was a shock to the disciples when he said, sitting here at
this table is the one who will betray me. We know who it was. It was Judas. But did anyone suspect Judas
at this time? Did anyone say, you know, I've
always been suspicious of him. There's something dark about
him. There's something I'm just not comfortable with. I'll bet
it's Judas. Actually, Judas had the most
trusted position. They trusted him with the money.
He was the treasurer. I dare say that he is the last
one. they would have chosen or thought
would do this thing because of his position. Now it says in our text in verse
23, and they began to inquire, question among themselves which
of them it was that should do this. Now it seems at this time
they were saying Will it be Peter? Will it be Nathanael? Will it
be John? Who is the one that is going
to do this thing? And we're looking at each other,
wondering who it would be. And then in John's account of
this, verse 21 of John chapter 13, when Jesus had thus said,
he was troubled in spirit. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, was troubled in spirit. Somebody says, how could God
be troubled? He was. He was troubled in spirit. and testified and said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And when this is spoken of in
the Psalms, he said, Yea, mine own familiar friend hath lifted
his heel against me. He was speaking of Judas. Now,
here's another one of those things I just don't understand. He knew
Judas was going to betray him, and yet he called him his friend.
Friend! Why comest thou hither? Then the disciples looked one
on another, doubting of whom he spake. They just weren't sure. But in Matthew and Mark's account,
we read this. Verily I say unto you, this is
Matthew 26 verse 21, and as they did eat, he said, Verily I say
unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding
sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord,
is it I? Not is it Peter, not is it Judas,
is it I? Now, are these stories contradictory
or conflicting? No. I will assure you both things
took place. When he said this, they started
thinking of the different ones that may have done this, and
then they came around to saying, Lord, is it I? Do not minimize this question.
The betrayal of Christ They said, Lord, is it I? They
wanted to know, am I the one that's going to do this thing?
Do not minimize this question. The betrayal of Christ was as
great a sin as have ever been committed. And Judas did it,
and his name is associated with treachery and betrayal. How much likeness is there between
Judas and me. Lord, is it I? Am I the one that I'm going to
do this thing? Now we know that Judas was a
judge and a critic. He looked at what the woman with
the alabaster box of ointment had done and he said, why is
this waste made? This could have been sold for
much and given to the poor. He judged her and criticized
her for what she was doing. He was a judge and a critic.
Anybody else like that? We know he was a thief. He took what did not belong to
him. Do I do that? Not have I done
that. Do I do that right now? Do I
take that which does not belong to me? That's talking a whole
lot more about a lot more than shoplifting. Do I take what does
not belong to me? Judas was a lying hypocrite. He said, is it I when he heard
the rest of the disciples say that? He said it is I when he'd
already betrayed him and he knew what he'd done. But yet, knowing
the right thing to say, he said, is it I? Do you know any other lying hypocrites? I do. I do. How much likeness is there between
Judas and me? The only person that would not
ask this question to themselves is the one who does not have
a new and holy nature. You see, it takes a new nature
and a new heart to see what sin is in the first place and create
this suspicion about yourself. If you have a new heart, you
have some familiarity, you have something that an unbeliever
doesn't have. An unbeliever doesn't have any understanding of sin,
not really. The only time you really understand
something about sin is when you're given a holy nature and you can
see it for what it is. The man who's going to ask, is
it I, is the man who completely distrusts himself because of
his own sinfulness. Nobody believes in total depravity
and total inability, which is what the scripture teaches, until
they're born again. And they might see the Bible
teaches it, but it's only when you're born again, born from
above, born of the Spirit of God, that you see that you are
totally depraved. It's not just something that
you read in the Bible and say, yeah, I see that. You know it's
true with regard to yourself. Grace doesn't change the old
nature. Have you found that to be true?
Grace doesn't change the old nature. You're just as bad as
you ever were, actually worse. You're sitting against more light,
aren't you? Grace doesn't change the old nature, but it does give
a new nature. a holy nature, one that was not
there before. And it's the new nature that
holds the old nature suspect. Is it I? Am I the one that I'm
going to do this thing? Now turn with me for a moment
to Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9. The heart. Somebody says, well, I may do
bad things, but I've got a good heart. Look what Jeremiah says. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The heart is what we really are. The heart is what we really are. That's our affections, that's
our will, that's our understanding. But what we are in our heart
is what we really are. Not what we are on the outside,
but what we are in our heart. That's what we really are. And the heart is said to be deceitful
above all things, desperately wicked deceitful. Deceitful means
it's not what it appears to be. If I deceive you, I may appear
to be something to you that I'm really not. Now, a heart can
deceive itself. Self-deception is the worst kind
of deception. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. Lying to ourselves. We can deceive
others, trying to present ourselves in a manner that really isn't
so. Now, I can't help but think in some
respects, I'm thankful for that kind of deception. I don't want
to know what you're really like, and you don't want to know what I'm
really like. So go ahead, and in that sense, I don't want you
to be a fake or a phony, but deceive me. But I want to deceive
you. I want to deceive you. But the
point is, don't, deceiving people to make out like you're some
kind of pious whatever, that's deception. And then we try to
deceive God. which is completely ignorant.
You can't deceive him who is omniscient, who sees right through
us, who sees all things, who knows all things. The Word of
God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
the joints and marrows, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents, the motives of the heart. Can't deceive him. Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful
above all things. He that trusts his heart, the
wise man said, is a fool. Trust your heart. You'd better
not. You'd better not. And then he says the heart is
desperately wicked. And what I think is interesting
is that word is most often translated in the Old Testament, incurably. wicked. Incurably wicked. You can't make it better. You
can't improve it. You can't make a change. It is
incurably wicked. Jeremiah chapter 13. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Jeremiah 13, 23. Can the Ethiopian
change his skin? No. Or the leopard his spots? No. Then may you also do good
that are accustomed to do evil. Somebody says, change your ways.
Well, I hope you do. That's a good thing if you do.
Change your ways. It would be good if all your
ways were changed and you just lived a real moral life. I commend
you. It's a good thing to do. I want
us to be that way. Change your ways. That doesn't
change your heart. The heart is the same. whether you change your ways
or whether you don't change your ways. I think of these scriptural
descriptions, Genesis 6, 5, and God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now that's
what God sees when he sees into my natural heart and into your
natural heart. That's the truth. Only. Evil. Non-stop. I love that scripture in Romans
2 verse 1. It almost makes me laugh at myself because I'm so
judgmental. I can look at what you're doing and they shouldn't
be doing that. They ought to be doing this. And yet the Bible
says, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest another. For whatever you're judging for
them, for you do the same thing. I don't do those things. God
says you do. Who am I supposed to believe,
you or God? Thou that judgest, doest the same things. Paul said in Romans chapter 7
verse 14, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal,
sold under sin. And he's speaking as a believer.
sold under sin, a slave to sin. He said, I know that in me that
is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now with those things
in mind, do we not have every reason to say, is it I? Is it I? Somebody that says, is it I?
really believes what the Bible says about the human condition.
And this is what scares me because my first thought, I'm just trying
to be honest, my first thought, if the Lord came in here and
looked at everybody in here and said, one of you shall betray
me, I know I would first think of somebody else rather than
myself. I know I would. I know I would. I hate admitting
that, but that just shows how little I really understand myself,
but someone who really believes, is it I, really believes that
they are totally depraved in and of themselves, no goodness
in them, and they really believe that they're totally unable,
totally unable to change their state. In other words, they really
believe they're sinners. They really believe you can't
put anything past a sinner. You can't put anything past me.
You know, when people say, believers wouldn't do that. There's only
one sin a believer will not commit. That's sin against the Holy Spirit.
Any other sin. Can a believer do that? Sure
they can. They carry with them an evil
heart of unbelief that's always there. The mind is evil. The will is
evil. The affections are evil. Inability. The scripture says, we're not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. Every believer knows that
they have every reason to say, is it I? Is it me? Am I the one that I'm going to
do this thing? Because we really believe that there's no difference
between us and Judas. You believe that about yourself?
There's no difference between me and Judas. Matthew says they
were sorrowful. Mark says they were exceeding
sorrowful. Lord, is it I? Now let me tell you something
about somebody who really believes that they're completely sinful,
totally depraved, totally unable to do anything to save themselves.
All these people who really believe this have this in common. All they have is Jesus Christ. They don't have anything else
to recommend him. They don't have anything else to make him
think, not gonna be me. All they have is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now Judah said it, but he was
not sincere. He knew he'd already betrayed
the Lord and taken the money when he said this. It takes the
grace of God to say it sincerely, Lord, is it I? Only grace can enable a man to
distrust himself so much. Lord, is it I? Now, what does a person like
this need? That's easy to answer. Grace. That's what a person like that
needs. Grace. The only thing that will prevent
me from being the betrayer is His grace. That's it. A person like this needs saving
grace. Turn with me to Romans 5 for
just a moment. I can't express how much I love
this definition of grace. Verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might be restrained. People will be afraid to sin.
Maybe their hearts will be different, but they'll be restrained and
the law will keep them from sinning. Is that what it says? No. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. It bubbles up over everything. The law entered that the offense
might abound and overflow. Where all there is is sin. That's it. Nothing else. I know this. I've never understood
God's holy law unless I see myself as nothing but sin. If you can
see yourself in any other light, you've never understood the law.
You don't have any respect for the law. The law of God. The high and holy law of God.
And you bring it down to your level and say, I can keep that
one. No, you never understood it. The law entered that the
offense might abound. But where sin abounded, you find
me a place where sin abounds. Would that be you? You find me
a place where sin abounds, and we have this promise, grace did
much more abound. Wherever sin abounds, grace,
I love that word, grace does much more abound. And here's how it works. Look
at verse 21. that as sin hath reigned unto
death. Now what does that mean? Sin
reigns unto death. Well how much power do you have
to stop death? None. None. I don't care how careful
you are. I don't care how much you take
care of yourself. I don't care if you never do
Anything that could harm your body, you're still going to die
pretty soon. There's nothing you can do to prevent death. Somebody says, I'm never going
to die. Yeah, you are. Yeah, you are. You don't have
any choice. It's going to happen. As sin hath reigned unto death, in the same manner, even so,
might grace reign. You know what that means? Just
as you don't have any power to stop sin, you don't have any
sinfulness that can stop grace. Nothing you can do to mess it
up. If God gives you grace, there's
nothing you can do to stop it. You see, it's the grace of God.
God doesn't try to do anything. God doesn't offer you grace.
gives grace. And just as you can't prevent
death, if God gives you grace, you can't prevent grace. And
you know what? This is righteous grace. It's a grace that honors the
righteousness of God. It's not an unrighteous grace
where sin is just put under the cover. It's a righteous grace. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness. God's
righteousness exalted unto eternal life, which is by Jesus Christ
our Lord. This grace will produce perfect
conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ in the end. And we're
just waiting for that to happen. You know, the unbeliever and
the believer. The unbeliever has wicked sins. The believer has wicked sins.
Which ones are worse, the believers or the unbelievers? I have no
doubt that the believers are worse. We sin against more love. We sin against more light. We
sin against knowing better. What's the difference between
the believer sins and the unbeliever sins? The believer sins are forgiven
sins. Forgiven sins. They've been put
away. And you know something, another
big difference between a believer and an unbeliever? A believer is not going to stay
a sinner. An unbeliever is going to be
a sinner throughout eternity with all the lusts and desires
and evil thoughts and so on throughout eternity with no way of gratifying
them, hating God every second, but the believer upon his death
will be perfect in Christ Jesus and they'll never, ever, ever,
ever, ever sin again. That is abounding grace. Where sin abounds, grace does
much more abound. Now, the Apostle Paul, he said,
O wretched that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of
death? That's how he felt about himself. He felt like he was living in
a body of death. But if you would have gone to him 20 years ago,
20 years before this, and said, do you believe that your heart
is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things? He'd say, why,
no. No, touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless.
I'm a good man. I love people. I love God. I
do my best. He went farther than that. He
said, touching the righteousness which was in the law, I was blameless.
Now, humanly speaking, what a good person. And he turns around and
says, O wretched man that I am. He calls himself the chief of
sinners. And he doesn't say, O wretched
man that I was. He said, O wretched man that
I am. He didn't say, I used to be the chief of sinners. He said,
I am the chief of sinners. Why this radical change? I know exactly why. He was born
again. He was born from above. He now has a holy nature that
recognizes sin, that is sensitive toward sin. He now has a heart
that sees and would say, when the Lord says, one of you shall
betray me, Lord, is it I? I fear that I'm the one who will
do it. As a matter of fact, I know I'm
the one who'll do it if your grace doesn't prevent me from
it. I know that. I know exactly what direction
I'll go if you don't prevent it. Search me, O God, and know
my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and
see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me into the way
of everlasting. Now, if you can say with conviction,
Lord, Is it I? I'm the one who'll do this if
your grace doesn't prevent it. Lord, is it I? If you can say this with conviction,
all you say about yourself is you're somebody that really needs
grace. Would you be somebody like that?
You need grace. You need electing grace. You
need God to choose you. You need it to begin with God.
You don't have any problem with election. You know it's your
only hope. You need an atonement that actually atones. You don't
need anything offered to you. You need to be saved. You need
Him to save you. You need Him to pay for your
sins and put them away. You need to be given a new heart.
You need to be regenerated. You need to be born from above.
You need God's grace to preserve you and to keep you and to keep
you from falling. You need grace. Did you know that Lord is that
I actually is a spiritually healthy state to be in? Who was the one disciple who
said, though everybody else will deny you, I won't do it. And he meant it too. He really
believed he wouldn't. He was very sincere when he said
that. I can see these other guys doing
it, but I will not do it. I'll never deny you. Who was
the one who did? That's an easy question to answer. Lord, Is it I? We don't excuse the sinfulness
that would make us know that we would do this, nor do we encourage
ourself in our sin, but we do admit it. And there's no merit
in that admission. Well, at least I know I'm a sinner.
Oh, at least I know I'm an axe murderer. Well, congratulations.
At least I know I'm a Whatever kind of pervert you could think
of, well, am I supposed to think that you're a better person because
you know it? No, we don't look at any merit in our admission
of our own personal sinfulness. But how we need the grace. How we need the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. How we need him to cause us not
to be the one who will bring reproach on his name. And we
ask, Lord, is it I? I know I would do it. Give me
grace to prevent this. Because if you don't prevent
it, it will happen. I'm not excusing that. I know
me. Why do you think the Lord taught
us to pray, lead us not into temptation? Let me tell you why I taught
us to pray that. Because if you're tempted, you'll fall. When have
you ever beat temptation? It'll get you. It'll get you.
You may try to push it off and push it off and push it off.
It'll get you. Am I telling the truth? I am. I am. So what do I pray? Lord,
let me not be tempted. Put a hedge about me. Don't even
give me the opportunity. Surround me with your grace. And deliver me from evil. We're
taught to pray that every day, and there's a reason, isn't there?
There's a good reason. Lord, is it I? Oh, may God give
me grace to know that if it's gonna be anybody, it's gonna
be me. Let's pray. Lord, We're ashamed and embarrassed that we would do this thing,
that we would actually betray you. And Lord, it fills our heart with shame
and sadness. And Lord, we ask for grace. To know that it would be us if you don't prevent it. And that the only difference
between us and Judas is you. Lord, take that knowledge. and
cause us to cleave and cling unto your son as our only righteousness. Lord, truly, he is the only righteousness
we have. Lord, we ask that you would enable
us by your grace to preach your gospel in this generation. and that many sinners might be
brought to say, is it I? In Christ's name we pray, amen.