My subject tonight is both sad
and solemn. It's a subject full of serious
warnings for every hypocrite, and a subject that's instructive
and comforting for believing sinners. I want you to turn with
me to Luke, Chapter 22, and I want to talk to you about the betrayal
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 22, verse 3. 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 the Son of
God, our Savior, unto them. And 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 multitudes. Let me say something first about
this man Judas. There were four men mentioned
in the New Testament whose names were Jude or Judas. The first
that comes to mind, of course, is Jude the brother of James,
the half-brother of our Redeemer, who wrote the epistle of Jude,
that great, great, great epistle. This is the man who is called
Judas in John 14, who asked the Savior, Lord, how is it that
thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? There was another Judas mentioned
in the ninth chapter of Acts. who lived in Damascus on a street
that was called Straight Street. I don't think that was accidental.
The Apostle Paul, after God had revealed our Savior in him, went
to this man's house and a man by the name of Ananias was commanded
to go to the house of one Judas on a street called Straight in
Damascus and there tell him what things he must do according to
the will of God. And then in Acts 15, after the
first council that was held at Jerusalem, the churches sent
a man by the name of Judas with letters back to the church at
Antioch, telling them what things had been determined by the apostles.
And then there is this man, Judas Iscariot. He is always identified
with his surname Iscariot, the traitor, the betrayer of our
Lord. His name was Judas. His surname, Iscariot, that was
arranged by God's providence. His surname means the man of
murder. He was the son of perdition from
the beginning. For this man, if it had been
better for him, had he never been born." That's what our Savior
said in Mark 14. Look at the first word in our
text, then, then. It's important to mark the time
that this took place. Then entered Satan into Judas,
surnamed Iscariot. God the Holy Spirit identifies
for us specifically when this took place. This is two days
before the Passover. It happened while our Savior
was attending that feast in the house of Simon the leper that
is recorded in all of the Gospel narratives. Mark, perhaps, gives
us the most detailed account of it. You'll remember our Lord
Jesus was there, and feasting at the table with Simon the leper,
and this woman, who was a sinner, came in. She slipped into the
crowd. Everybody knew she was a woman
of ill repute, but the Master had forgiven her of her sins,
and she understood, and she alone understood. Be sure you don't
miss that. This woman seems to be the only
person among our Savior's disciples who clearly understood what He
said about His death and resurrection fixing to take place. The others,
as many times as He told them, they were astonished when it
happened. They couldn't figure out what had happened until after
the Lord had risen from the dead. But this woman came beforehand
with an ointment, just a little casket of ointment, precious
It was worth 300 pence. In those days, Clare, that was
a year's wages. A year's wages. 300 pence. She came in and she knelt down
behind the master, loving him, grateful for his mercy, washed
his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
And she broke this alabaster box of ointments and the spike
filled the room, and the disciples murmured among themselves, Why
this waste? Are we to have taken this and
sold it for three hundred pence and given it to the poor and
fed folks for a long time with this money? They murmured among
themselves, and the Son of God heard the murmuring among themselves. And He said concerning this woman,
Let her alone. Why trouble ye her? And then
he said something he never said about the work of any other human
being. She has brought a good work on
me. It was a work done just for him. Oh my God, I'd love to do something
just for him. Just for him. It was a work of
faith. She came, our Savior said, to
anoint me for my burial. She understood what I told her.
She came to anoint me for my burial. And she's taken all her
living and sacrificed it just to honor me. Nothing to be done
with Not to be used in any way, nothing to be gained from it,
except just to honor Him. And then he said, She hath done
what she could. Brother Don, I sure would like
to do something for the Lord. What do you recommend? Just what
you can. Just what you can. Some can preach. Others can't even Look somebody
in the face and say hello and talk to them for five minutes
without just being completely withered. But you can do what
you can. God give us grace to do what
we can for Him. And after this, listen to this,
the next word, the next word, this appears to be the thing
providentially that was used to trigger Judas' malice. I'm not saying that's what caused
it. It was always there. He was a hypocrite from the beginning,
but this seems to be the thing that triggered his horrid malicious
act. The next word, and Judas, one
of the twelve, went unto the chief priest to betray him unto
them. That's the very next word at
the end of Mark chapter 14. Then entered Satan into Judas,
surnamed Iscariot. John tells us that this happened
before the Lord's Supper. Now, before the Supper in Simon's
house was ended and before the Lord's Supper was established.
Turn, if you will, to John chapter 13 for just a moment. Let me
show you. I'm having you to see clearly
the timeline here because it's very significant. While they
were still at the table in Simon's house, you'll remember our Lord
Jesus arose from the Supper and washed his disciples' feet. Now,
unless you read this carefully, you will do as I have done most
of my life. You'll think, this is talking
about when the Lord instituted the Lord's Supper. No such thing.
Our Lord was still in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper
when he rises to wash his disciples' feet. There are lots of folks
who think that this is where they get the idea of having foot
washing at the Lord's Supper. If you get it from here, you
can't get it here. This is not talking about the Lord's Supper.
This is another thing altogether. And this is very clear. And after
he did that, look at verse 26. The Lord Jesus told his disciples
that one of them would betray him. And when they wondered which
of them would do this horrible thing, the Master clearly identifies
it. Look at it. to whom I shall give
a sop, 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 Jesus said unto him, That
thou doest, do quickly." Now, the Lord Jesus clearly He said,
you want to know who it is that's going to betray me? I told you,
one of you is going to do it. They all said, Lord, is it I?
Master, is it I? Is it I? And then Judas, to say
the face, he'd already been out, in his heart already fixed to
go out and do this thing. To say the face, he said, could
you be talking about me? And the Lord said, the fellow
who's going to do this is the one that I'm going to take my
biscuit and dip it in the gravy and give it to him. And when
he's done that, that's who will betray me." And Judas took the
bread, gave it to him and took a bite. And the Master said,
that thou doest do quickly. And you know the disciples didn't
have a clue that it was Judas. They still didn't have a clue.
But Judas, having received the sock, verse 30, went immediately
out to betray the Son of God. Now back in Luke chapter 22. Immediately following this supper
in Bethany, while Judas was making his dastardly deal with the chief
priest, the Lord Jesus sent Peter and John to the appointed place
to prepare his Passover in the city of Jerusalem. Look at verse
14. And then when the appointed hour
was arrived, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him
to keep the Feast of the Passover. He kept the Feast of the Passover
with his disciples. He said, with desire, have I
desired to keep this Feast with you? This is the thing for which
I've come, because now the Passover has come. And now I am about
to fulfill all that I came here to fulfill. and he keeps this
last Passover feast with his disciples. And then in verses
19 and 20, he established that which we enjoy today in the observance
of the Lord's Supper as an ordinance in his church and kingdom forever.
And I've said all that because I want to show you plainly that
Judas was at the table with the twelve when the Lord Jesus established
this gospel ordinance we call the Lord's Supper. In verses
21 and 22, we are plainly told that after making his hellish
deal to betray the Son of God, Judas was present with the Twelve
and kept the first observance of the Lord's Supper. But behold,
the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table, and
truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto
that man by whom he is betrayed." What a base, crass, bold-faced,
hard-hearted, relentless hypocrite this man must have been. Apparently,
after he went out from Bethany, he was angry because He saw the
Master commend this woman for doing something in His honor.
Angry, he went out to betray the Son of God, made arrangements
to betray Him, and then he comes to that appointed place where
the Master would go and observe the first Lord's table with His
disciples. And he slips in and sits down
right at the table and lays his hand on the table. This is important. Because multitudes
will have us to fence the table. That sounds like a good term,
doesn't it? Protect the table. Lest we should have someone to
slip in and receive the bread and wine at the Lord's table
who's an unbeliever, or lest some believer who is unworthy. slip in and receive the Lord's
Table. So we need to protect. We have the secret time. We have
special service. I've known church, we have to
have that ticket to get it when we have the Lord's Supper. You've got
to be part of this group. You've got to meet these standards
and so forth. As though some of God's children are unworthy
to protect other. Now, I want so much for you to
see this. We have a natural tendency towards self-righteousness, as
you know. And we have a natural tendency
to everything that tends toward works. And those things we need
to confront and recognize that they are evil. The scriptures
clearly teach the Lord's Supper is for believers only. Is that
plain enough? I don't want to say any more
about that. You all understand that. Your pastor teaches it.
I do. We don't go out and solicit folks to come to the Lord's table.
We observe the Lord's table at home every Sunday evening. Rarely
do I even say anything about it after I finish preaching.
We've done so for 25 years. But the Lord's table is for believers,
only believers, no one else. For those who discern the Lord's
body. Read 1 Corinthians 11. Do you
discern the Lord's body? If you believe Him, you do. Believing
Him is to discern your need of Him, to discern who He is, to
discern that He has come here and accomplished what He said
He would accomplish, fulfilling His Father's will in the redemption
of His people. The Lord's Supper is for believers
only. No unbeliever is worthy to sit
at the Lord's table, but every believer is completely worthy. The unbeliever participates in
religion. In our churches, we don't have
invitations and altar calls and such as that. When mamas and
daddies come and their children have been scared to death by
some religious relative and they want to make a profession of
faith, we're not going to talk babies into being baptized and making
a profession of faith. We don't do it. We don't, you
know, folks, we've got to seize the moment. No. We preach the
gospel in a way for God to seize the sinner. We're not about to
try to get somebody to profess faith in Christ. We don't slosh
a little water on a baby's face and call it baptism, because
all those things, all those things give many women a confidence
of acceptance with God based upon their relationship with
outward religion. And every act of religion by
which a man or woman presumes they act in faith when they have
no faith is to eat and drink damnation to your soul. That's
what it is to eat and drink unworthily. The believer is worthy. Our Lord
doesn't tell us that we ought to eat the bread and drink the
wine if we feel worthy enough. He doesn't tell us we ought to
do it if we have no one confess sin in our lives. He doesn't
tell us we ought to do it if we have read our Bible enough
and prayed enough. He said, this bread is my body
in the new covenant. Eat it as often as you do in
remembrance of me. This wine is the new covenant
in my blood. Drink all of it and do it often
in remembrance of me. So the believer is commanded
of our Savior to eat and drink the bread and wine of the Lord's
table in remembrance of Him, believing Him, confident in Him,
just as much as you're commanded to confess Him at believer's
baptism. This is not an optional thing with believers. And this
blessed ordinance is for all believers, for all of them. I
did conserve the Lord's table and I sat right there and tried
my best, never even looked up to see who was taking the Lord's
table. It's not my business. I'm no more interested in that
than I am in knowing who gives what to the congregation. It's
not my business. Not my business at all. Who makes
the decision? Who's worthy and who's not? You
do. What does the Lord say? The Apostle Paul writes in 1
Corinthians 11, that every man examine himself. Examine what? Whether you're in the faith.
Whether you do or do not discern the Lord's body. And so let him
eat. I'm not worthy to stand here
and mention my Savior's name. I'm not worthy to call on Him
in prayer. I'm sure not worthy to confess
Him in baptism. I'm not worthy to eat and drink
at the Lord's table. I'm not worthy to be numbered
among you, his saints. Oh, yes, I am. Oh, yes, I am. Not in me, but in him. His blood and his righteousness
make me worthy right now to be a partaker of the inheritance
of the saints in life. That's what the book says, Colossians
1-12. And if I'm worthy to go to glory,
I reckon I'm worthy to eat and drink the bread and wine. What
do you think? Judas was there, but the master made absolutely
no effort to identify him as an undeliver, though he knew
from the beginning who it was. He didn't do like we do, you
know, say some rascal come in, reach out and take a bread and
wine and look here. Nope. He did nothing to in any way
imply that Judas ought not be there, though Judas had no business
there. This blessed ordinance we enjoy,
and we enjoy it recognizing that this is our blessed, sweet communion
with Christ. and with one another in Christ.
And I want to tell you something. The apostles sitting at the table
with Judas, their communion with the master wasn't ended because
Judas was there. His presence didn't hurt a thing.
His presence didn't destroy anything. They enjoyed sweet fellowship
with the blessed Redeemer as he tells them plainly, I am now
come to die as your Passover sacrifice and I want you when
I'm gone to constantly do this in remembrance of me. And Judas
acted like he was part of it and didn't have a clue as to
what our master was talking about. Judas was here called one of
the twelve in verse 47. We're told in verse three, he
was of the number of the twelve. These twelve men formed the most
elite group of human beings who have ever walked topside of God's
earth. I'm not looking for something
to say, I want you to get that. They formed the most elite group
of human beings who ever walked the topside of God's earth. And
Judas was numbered among them. One of them was a devil. When the Lord chose Judas to
the office of an apostle, he knew he was a devil. When he
commissioned Judas to go out with the other apostles and preach,
Judas was commissioned with them. When our Savior sent out the
twelve to cast out devils, to heal the sick, and to preach
the kingdom of God, Judas was sent with them. It seems to me
that Judas certainly must have preached exactly the same thing
the others preached. He certainly must have performed
at least some of the miracles that the others performed. Otherwise,
his credentials as an apostle would have been questioned. I
said all of that because we want to understand. These things being
so, surely our Master had some gracious design in using Judas
as he did. This is not accidental. No more accidental than God saying,
Let there be light, and there was light. No more accidental
than anything else that happens in this universe. It's all done
according to God's purpose and by God's providence. Well, what
are the Master's designs then? What can be gracious about this,
the most horrible, the most malicious, the most notoriously evil man
who ever lived in this world? How could the Lord God use him
for good? Let's see. First thing obvious
to me is 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 is damning. And God's providence, He uses
many things to restrain evil in men. How many times have you
said, or heard others say, well, they go to church over there
and say they don't believe anything, but at least they're going to
church. I'm glad for that. You oughtn't You heard me. Godless religion is godless. And religion without Christ is
not something that is just useless. It is absolutely damning to the
souls of men. Judas was chosen to be a preacher,
even an apostle. Without question, he preached
the doctrine that Peter, James, and John preached. The doctrine
of Christ, the doctrine your pastor preaches, and the doctrine
I'm preaching to you. But Judas was a devil. Right doctrine does not necessarily
reveal a right heart. Right doctrine does not necessarily
reveal a right heart. This man was never born again
by the Spirit of God. He was never called to life and
faith in Christ. He was never made a partaker
of the grace of God, a partaker of Jesus Christ. He was nothing
but an outward, empty-hearted professor of faith in Christ,
not a possessor of grace. Hold your hands and look at Acts
chapter 1 for just a minute. Acts 1. Let me show you how Peter
described him. He was a messenger of God, an
apostle in name only. Only in name. Acts 1, 17. for he was numbered with us and had obtained part of this
ministry, the outside part, that's all. He had the name and office,
the duties and the doctrine, the fame and the functions of
an apostle, but nothing else. He had no grace in his heart,
no gifts of the Spirit. Those who heard him preach heard
cold dry, empty echoes of a cold, dry, empty heart. And there have been multitudes
like him since. They are ordained by men, but
not by God, the Holy Spirit. They're talented, but not gifted
with grace. There's a huge difference. There's
a huge difference in a man being talented to speak and gifted
to preach. There's a huge difference. Their
doctrine may be profound and precise, but it's not pure. It may elevate your thinking
and swell your head, but it will not edify your soul and sanctify
your heart. Such a man was Judas. He was
a devil from the beginning, and yet this man was numbered with
the twelve, associated with the apostles for three and a half
years. associated with them right up
to the very end when he had fulfilled his measure of iniquity and God
said you can't go any further. I say all that because I want
you to understand we should never be surprised by the appearance
of such men. We should never be surprised
that they go undetected by faithful men and women right to the end. I just don't see how folks couldn't
see that. You know, looking back on it,
looking back on it, I don't know how on this earth Peter, James,
and John and the other apostles missed what the Master said.
Can you figure that out? He said, now watch the fellow who bits
his top right here with me. That's the one. Watch him. Who
are you talking about? They just missed it. They just
missed it. How can such go undetected? Because
God providentially arranges they go undetected. And no spiritual
truth can be understood except by specific, personal, divine
revelation from God the Holy Spirit. Our Lord Jesus said in
the last day, Many will say unto me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? Have we not done many wonderful
works in thy name? And I will say to them, depart
from me, ye cursed. I never knew you." Here's another
thing to learn. Judah stands as a constant, blessed
beacon of light, proclaiming forever. Now listen. Listen to me. This will help
you. This will help you. All Satan's
devices and all the deeds of all evil men, even the most malicious,
shall never hurt God's cause, harm God's people, injure God's
glory, or hinder God's work. Did you get it? Hell is not going
to hurt our Savior. Remember what our Lord God said
when Satan puffed and blew and said, I'm going to take over
the God business, Isaiah 14? He said, I'll ascend and I'll
be as the Most High God. The Lord God said, when Satan got done blustering,
and blowing and snorting and hollering. This is the purpose
that is purposed in the whole earth. Satan's not going to hinder God
Almighty from accomplishing his purpose, but he will only be
forever an unwilling vassal who serves God's purpose in everything
he does. And while he seeks to devour
your soul, if Christ has chosen you with his everlasting love
and redeemed you by his blood and robed you in his righteousness,
all the vassal of hell can do is help you. That's all he can
do. The apostles weren't hindered
in their work because Judas was among them. Show me one place
where that's so. Not at all. The disciples weren't
harmed by Judas's presence with them at the table. They enjoyed
the Lord's presence, though Judas was there. Our Savior was not
hindered, but only helped in the determination that he had
in coming into this world to redeem and save our souls. In
fact, it was Judas' fall that providentially made room for
the twelfth of the twelve apostles. Now, Peter and The others in
Acts chapter 2, they got together and they said, or chapter 1 rather,
they said, they said, Judas is gone. We've got to have 12 apostles.
We've got to have 12 apostles. Twelve. No less than twelve. And no more than twelve. Never
had been but twelve. I don't care what fellas say.
There's not any apostles today. Only twelve. And Peter said,
fellas, let's play a game of spin the bottle to find out who
it is the Lord will pick among us. And they rolled the dice.
There's Matthias. But they chose him. God didn't.
Paul tells us, I'm the one born out of euthanasia. There were
12 gates to the New Jerusalem, speaking of the 12 tribes of
Israel through whom God preserved and gave us the gospel of his
grace. And 12 foundations on the names of the 12 is not the
name of Matthias or the name of Judas. And those names had
been scratched out and replaced. The name is Paul, the apostle,
all arranged by God's providence. Yes, our Savior had wise, gracious
designs in his use of Judas. He knew that his church, so long
as we are in this world, would be a mixed multitude. We would never be free from false
apostles and false preachers and false prophets, and we would
ever be mingled as tares among the wheat are mixed, as goats
among the sheep are mixed, as good fish with the bad fish are
always mixed. And yet the precious and the
vile are perfectly kept distinct. Between the two there is a great
gulf fixed from everlasting that shall never be crossed by either. Goats will never become sheep,
and sheep will never become goats. Tares will never become wheat,
wheat will never become tares. Good fish will never become carts,
and carts will never become good fish. That's just the way it
is. God's people are safe and secure,
and his saints are not harmed by the tares among them. Churches
love to teach and practice what they call church discipline.
It's amazing to me. I know congregations, when they
first get started, they, well, what do we do to keep folks out?
I ain't interested in keeping anybody out. I'm interested in
doors being thrown open and for all who will to enter in. Oh,
but what are you going to do about the pears? Nothing. Nothing. Oh, but the pears are going to
hurt the wheat. No, they're not. No, they're not. Our Savior said,
leave them alone. Let both grow together until
the harvest. And he said it with good reason.
Because, Matt, every time you look at something else, look
at that tare. I'm going to jerk that thing up and throw it away.
You'll get ahold of a piece of wheat every time. Every time. You'll pull up the wheat and
keep the tares. You'll kick out the sheep and
keep the goats. That's the way we are because
we don't know. We don't know. All you look at, what is you
look at? The outward appearance. That's all. Well, I can look
at the outward appearance and judge the heart. I beg your pardon? Oh, no. Oh, no. Not according
to this book. But let the two grow together
until the harvest. My dear friend, Brother Harry
Graham, now with the Lord, I learned so much from him when I was 19,
20 years old. He said, Don, the only way you
can tell tarry is from wheat. And that's at harvest time. The
wheat bows its head and the tarry stand tall. Let both go together until the
harvest. They're not going to harm a thing.
But in the end of the age, in this gospel age, the Son of Man
will send forth his angels. He will send forth his angels,
gospel preachers. And by the preaching of the gospel,
he will gather the wheat into his garner and bind up the tares
in bundles for the burning. And so the word preached is to
some a savor of life unto life and others a savor of death unto
death. But this is the way God works. It's mysterious, and it
demonstrates clearly you can't in any way contribute to it,
and you can't hurt it. Just wait. He's the one who builds
his kingdom. And then Judas came, verse 47
in Luke 22, and betrayed the Master. The Lord Jesus is in Gethsemane.
He's just finished praying. When he rose from prayer, he
found Peter and James and John sleeping for sorrow. And he said
to them, Rise, pray, lest ye enter into temptation. And while
he yet spake, behold, a multitude. And he that was called Judas,
one of the twelve, went before them. Judas was guide to them
that crucified them, the Lord Peter said. And he drew near
unto Jesus to kiss But Jesus said unto him, said unto Judas,
Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? And when they which
were about him saw what would follow, they said to him, Lord,
shall we smite with the sword? And one of them, we know his
name now, Peter, 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 unto the chief priests and the captains
of the temple and to the elders which were coming unto him, Be
ye come out as against a 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 and the power of darkness. Then took they him and led him
and brought him into the chief priest's house. And Peter followed
afar off. Now here's a multitude, a multitude,
coming to arrest a man whose name is Jesus of Nazareth, commonly
known to all as the carpenter's son, and commonly known to all
as a lowly prophet, a man around whom no violence was ever associated. We've had in our generation a
number of fellows to rise up in our country and others, and
they talk about doing peaceful generation, peaceful protesting,
peaceful marches, and peaceful revolutions. I was raised in
the South, got in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement.
Believe me, it was anything but peaceful. I don't care how they
used me to put it there. You didn't walk down the streets.
I know I was there. You just didn't do it. There's
nothing peaceful about it. But our Savior. never did anything
to imply any kind of violence anywhere. And they'd come out
against him with swords and spears. The chief priests and captains
in the temple, with a band of Roman soldiers, come out to arrest
him. And Judas was guide to them. Why such a mob? Do you reckon
they might have been afraid of him? You reckon they might have been
afraid of him? I'm dead sure they were. It's obvious those
soldiers, as well as the Jews, had heard that this man claimed
to be the Son of God, claimed to be something much more than
mere man. His disciples worshipped him
as God. The Jews, on occasion, took up
stones to stone him because he said that he, though a man, makes
himself to be God. And I know the Roman soldiers
were aware of this because when the whole thing was over and
the Lord Jesus said, it's finished, and bowed his head and gave up
the ghost, one of them said, that man was the Son of God. They understood that this man
at least claimed such. I know that princes of this world
did not know the Lord of glory. They didn't know him, didn't
have any faith in him. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of Glory. And yet these folks knew
that our Savior openly claimed to be the Lord of Glory. And
I don't doubt for a minute they feared He just might have been. Their fears were justified. You
remember what He did when they first came to Him? John 18? They come to Him with swords
and staves, a huge crowd of folks, Jews and Gentiles, soldiers. He said, who you looking for?
And then he let them know who he was. I'm sure they were terrified. And though Judas was determined
to betray the master, he was terrified of him. Matthew tells
us that when he made arrangements to betray him, he said, as soon
as you see me kiss this man, you see that you bind him fast.
Bind him quickly. Why? such precautions. There was in that man who was
a devil a terrifying conviction. A legal conviction is always
terrifying. I spent years struggling with
legal conviction. Legal conviction Knowing myself
a sinner before God Almighty, and knowing that if God's pleased
to snuff out my breath, I'd fall into hell. I spent years like
that. All my teenage life. Terrified. Terrified. But you know what
I wouldn't do? You know what I wouldn't do?
I would not repent. I stand to it. Because you see,
man is so depraved, so vile, so utterly bound by his nature,
that he will not act contrary to his own nature, though he
is terrified by his actions. He won't do it. He will not repent. and he will not believe, and
he can't repent, and he can't believe. It can't be done by
you. It can't be. So a preacher, I
just don't believe a man can be in that kind of situation
and not back up. I've been there many times. When I was growing
up, I was a scrapper. That's a polite way of putting
it. And usually, the scraps involved older fellas. And usually I had
overloaded something right here called my mouth, and I got in
trouble. But buddy, once I was standing
in front of him, I wasn't about to back down. And I stood in
front of fellas terrified, terrified, because I'm determined to do
what I will. And that's just the way it was
with Judas and these soldiers. These men were terrified. as
they led the Savior out of Gethsemane. You see, they had seen and heard
enough that night to convince them who they were dealing with.
Judas, he had seen the master raise the dead. He had seen him break loaves
and fishes and feed 20,000 people with a little basket full of
fish and bread. Judas had seen the master when they took him
out on the hillside outside the city and were going to shove
him off the cliff. He saw the Son of God disappear right out
of their hands. It vanished out of their hands.
And he didn't forget all that. And these Roman soldiers, just
in case they didn't get the first message when the master said,
I am, they fell away as dead men. Peter took out his little
knife out of his sheath and started into that embarrassing Roman
soldier. He smoked the high priest's servant's ear off. And the master,
each time God is here, he's here. Put it back on. They knew exactly
who they were dealing with. And they led him away terrified. Oh, if God Almighty has given
you repentance in faith, contrary to your nature and contrary to
your will, conquering your nature and conquering your will, ever
bow before Him and give thanks. And if tonight He graciously
overpowers your will and refuses to let you have your way, consciously
bow before Him and give Him thanks. Understand something else here.
Our Savior was by the use of these wicked men, Judas included,
accomplishing his own purpose and the prophecies of the Old
Testament. The scripture said the master had to be betrayed,
Psalm 41. He had to be betrayed by one
in whom he confided as a friend and one who was known to be confided
in by him as a friend. and had to be betrayed by one
who had eaten his bread. All that's written in the Scriptures.
Well, why did they bind him and lead him away? Because according
to Psalm 118, the sacrifice must be bound like Isaac was to the
author. But he was willingly bound because
it was his determination to suffer for us. The Jews and the Gentiles
are described as the heathen who raged and the kings and set
themselves against the Lord and against his anointed. We know
that because in Acts chapter 4, Peter tells us that Herod
and Pontius Pilate and the Jews and the Gentiles came together
for to do whatsoever thy hands determined before should be done
unto him. And then the Lord Jesus is brought
to the high priest. That's a strange thing. Why? Why? These are Roman soldiers. The Jews were their captors.
And these were soldiers not of the priest, not of the Jews,
but of the Roman governor in the province. And they despised
the Jews. They weren't likely to do anything
just to placate the Jews, just to please the Jews. And it's,
you know, I'm not a military fellow, but I've got an idea.
I've got an idea that that Roman governor, did not give them orders
saying, you go out yonder and arrest this Jesus of Nazareth
and take him over to the high priest and get the high priest
to tell me what I ought to do with him. I just can't imagine
him doing that. These fellows acted contrary
to their nature and probably acted contrary to their own orders
that night and the penalty wasn't a day in the stockade. I mean,
these fellows did everything exactly contrary to what should
have been expected. They took him first to the high
priest. How come? Because Christ must
die according to the Scriptures. Every word being fulfilled. Leviticus
chapter 1, the sin offering must be brought first to the high
priest. And so our Lord Jesus fulfilled
in his life all that was required of the law's command. And in
his sacrifice and obedience, all that was required of the
sacrifice. And then, Judas went out and
hanged himself. He fell on his head, long to
the ground, and his bowels gushed out. And then, hell. He forever cries with a guilty,
tormented, screaming conscience that cannot be silent. better for me had I never been
born." But that's not the end of the story. The Lord Jesus went to His own
place, went to Mount Calvary, and accomplished redemption for
us, and took His seat on the throne of glory as the Son of
David, the Son of God, to give eternal life to every redeemed
sinner. And so, I want to take my place with
him at the Father's right hand, because Judas was numbered among
the twelve, and betrayed the Master with a kiss, according
to the purpose of my God. Well, Pastor, why would you want
to bring such a message as this? Don't ever fret about anything. Our God and Savior is in absolute
control, even over the thoughts and the deeds of the most maliciously
evil human being who ever walked on this earth, fulfilling his
will and his good pleasure to you. No wonder they did say,
there shall no evil happen to the just. Amen.