John's Gospel chapter 13, just
one verse of Scripture. I want to look at the context
today, but just the one verse of Scripture, and try to speak
and have you to meditate this morning on this one thought.
John chapter 13 and verse 30. He, Judas, Judas is the traitor. He then, having received the
sop, went out immediately, and it
was night. He, having received the sop,
immediately went out, went out immediately, and it was night. And that's my text this morning,
and it was night. This is a short statement, isn't
it? Just four little words, and it was night. But I think the
Holy Spirit has put this Word in here on purpose for you and
I to stop as we hastily read through these passages, especially
this passage in the 13th chapter and the 14th and 15th and 16th
chapter, to make us stop, to make us hesitate and to meditate
upon the context in which this simple, short statement was written
to cause us to think seriously about it. And as we do this morning,
I think we'll see how appropriate this statement is when we compare
it to the things that was going on at this time. I want to look
at it from three different aspects this morning. I want to look
at it from the aspect of what was taking place in our Lord's
heart at this time and what he was going to suffer just a few
hours after this. And that will be there in verse
1 of chapter 13. When you consider this statement
in the context of verse 1, now before the Feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart
out of this world. and it was night. The hour had
come for him to depart out of this world and it was night. He that was conceived of a virgin
without any sin, he that lived his life without any sin, he
that could not sin was ready to be made sin, whatever in the
world that means. And it was not an appropriate
statement. And this is the first thing I
want to consider. The second thing I want to consider
is the condition of the minds, the confusion that reigned in
the minds of these eleven apostles at this time. And we'll look
at that when we get there. But they were so confused. They
said, for instance, what is this that he said? We know not what
He said. And Thomas said, Lord, how can
we know the way? Peter said, Lord, why can't I
be with You? Why can't I go with You? I've
laid down my life for Your sake. They were so confused. Their
mind was so full of darkness. What an inappropriate little
short statement this is. And it was night. And then thirdly,
I want us to consider verse 30, this short statement, in the
light of this traitor, Judas. He was ready here to go out and
negotiate a price for the Son of God. And the Scripture said,
He went to the chief priest and said unto them, What will you
give me? And I will deliver him unto your
hands. And they coveted with him for
thirty pieces of silver. And isn't it amazing that hundreds
of years before this time, this very conversation was predicted. The very price that was set was
predicted. Listen to Zechariah chapter 11
and verse 12. And I said unto them, If you
think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they
weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver." You wonder how the
chief priest, them who supposedly read those passages of Scripture,
you wonder how Judas could go and negotiate the price of the
Son of God when it was predicted that he would be sold for thirty
pieces of silver. How appropriate. This is, in
their mind, in His mind, the darkness that filled their thoughts,
and it was night. So first of all, let us begin
here this morning with verse 1. The hour had come that He
should be received out of this world. The hour come that He
should depart. And the way that He departed
is what I want to dwell on just for a few minutes this morning.
And let me say again, I don't make any apologies for going
to the cross. I love it there. There are times
in my soul, to be honest with you, I can't go there. Not as
we're going to for just a few minutes this morning. We're always
going there. We're always looking unto Jesus,
the Arthur and the finish of His soul. But I can't always
go as I intend to. this morning. So come with me,
if you would, for just a few minutes and let's go outside
those old walls of the city of Jerusalem. And let's hold hands
and go up this hill that's appropriate called the Place of a Skull. Let's go there to the Cross of
Calvary. And let us look what takes place
there. But we'll have to be careful
We'll have to gaze with keen eyes. Because the Scripture says
a darkness had come over all the land. Probably a darkness
that could almost be felt. That you had to peer through
to see forms. And let's go there and look upon
this bleeding form that hangs upon the cross. And we'll have
to hear very carefully because mostly all you hear there is
groans. Groans from criminals and groans
from the Son of God who hangs upon the middle cross. We'll
have to hear also over the mockery, over the bragging, perhaps even
over the songs of those who sang of Him who hanged there. Here
we stand at the top of this hill, gazing at this bleeding farm. And what do we see? Those black
locks. Those Jewish black locks. But they're filled with His blood
flowing from His brow. They're white with His own sweat. See His face that's marred more
than any man. Notice how black and blue and
swollen it is from the blows of the Roman soldiers. Notice
how naked His face is because His beard has been plucked from
it. Let us walk round behind the
cross and behold His back that He has given to the smiters.
Notice how deeply those pharaohs are plowed. Notice where the
skin has been split, the muscle has been severed, and notice
the whites of the bones as they stick through the mingle flesh. Continue to walk around this
tree and consider this farm that's marred more than any man. See
these outstretched hands that are pierced and bleeding. See
the legs that are trembling through weakness. See the blood sprinkling
from the pierced feet. Peer through the darkness and
see this bleeding farm hanging there in the shame of its nakedness. Shame of its nakedness. He hanged
there in nakedness. We see sometimes drawings or
we see paintings where for obvious reasons they have Him to be clothed. But the Scripture, I think, would
teach us plainly that He despised the shame and the meekness of
that cross. Look at His twisted body because
of the bones that are out of joint. Notice His body as it
begins to swell through dehydration. Look at His tongue as it cleaves
to His jaw. and come a little closer. Look
and listen. Come just a little bit closer. Hear His groanings over this
crowd of hecklers. And watch that He groans. Listen. I am poured out like water. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. My strength is dried up like
a potster. My heart is broken and I am full. of heaviness. Can you see Him
hanging there? Will you come there with me this
morning? Isn't this an appropriate statement? And it was not. Isn't it indicative of this darkness
that had come upon the body and upon the soul of the dear Son
of God? Oh, darkness had come over all
the land, but that darkness could not be compared to the darkness
that had came between His soul and heaven. There was no bright
cloud over His head with a voice saying, This is My beloved Son. There was no one upon this earth
that could comfort Him, and heaven refused to do so. Not only had
earth delivered Him up, But heaven had delivered him up. Not only
had earth turned its wrath upon him, but heaven had turned its
wrath. Not only had his friends forsaken
him, but God had forsaken him. Not only was his eyes darkened
through the physical blackness of this hour, but the eyes of
his soul was darkened by the spiritual blackness. And listen
to him again as he groaned. Thou hast laid me in the lowest
pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lie hard upon me, and
Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy ways. Thou hast put mine
acquaintance far from me. Thou hast made me abomination
unto them. I am shut up, and I cannot come
forth." Oh, isn't this an inappropriate statement? And it was not. Can we see Him hanging there
in this darkness? Can we hear His groanings like
those sacrificial lambs that they used to bring to the high
priest to be offered for sin? Here He hangs in His nakedness,
covered with His blood from the crown of His head to the sole
of His feet. And He's fully opened Himself
up. His heart is opened. And what
do we see? His body is opened. His back
has been opened. His flesh has been opened on
His face. His hands and His feet have been
opened through the wounds of the nails. And soon His side
will be opened. He has completely exposed Himself
from His heart to the wounds in His body. And He has opened
Himself up to the courts of heaven. He has exposed and confessed. that which is brought the wrath
of God upon him." And what is it? Our sins. Our sins. But He doesn't say they're their
sins. Listen to how He confesses it.
Thou knowest My foolishness, and My sin is not hid from Thee. He so took our sins and our iniquities
and our transgressions in such a real sense that He made them
His own and He says they are Mine. And now He not only invites,
but He demands Heaven's sword to punish Him for those sins. To exact from Him and charge
Him and demand from Him the debt that is owed those awful, awful
black sins. The full price of sins for every
elect soul had to be collected at his expense. But oh, how it
hurt him! How he smarted! Listen as he
says this again, I suffer thy terrors. I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me. Not just wrath. Oh, there is
wrath, and there is fierce wrath. And here he says, Thy fierce
wrath has gone over me, and it has covered him. As the darkness
covered the city of Jerusalem, it covered his soul and his bodies. And thy terror has cut me off. Oh, isn't this an appropriate
statement? Don't you think this is why the
Holy Spirit put this little short statement in here? And it was
not. It was symbolic of our sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The old song we used to sing,
None of the ransomed ever knew The depths of the waters crossed,
Nor how dark the night the Lord passed through, Ere He could
save His sheep that was lost. Oh, it was nice. It was night
physically. It was night spiritually. But
listen, this night, His night, the few hours of darkness that
He went through, it's our eternal day, is it not? Oh, the condemnation,
the guilt that He Himself confessed is our everlasting freedom from
condemnation. His death that He suffered upon
the cross of Calvary, Out of that comes our everlasting life. Here we have a firm foundation. Here the refuge of the lost. Christ the rock of our salvation. He is the name of which we boast. Lamb of God for sinners wounded. Sacrifice to counsel guilt. None shall ever be confounded.
Who on Him their hopes have built. But stay just a minute. Stay
just a minute. We've been walking around this
cross. We've been looking at it, His front and His back. Now let us sit down. Let us sit
down. But where are we going to sit?
Will we sit with John, the Beloved? Will we stand there with Mary
or some of the other chosen few women that were there in His
agony? No, we can't stand there, can we? We can't sit with Him. Where must we sit? We must sit
with His mockers. We must sit with His enemies.
That's where we must first sit. Somebody says, Bruce, I've never
been His enemy. I would never mock Him. If I'd
have been there, I'd have stopped them. Oh, that's just not so. If we are to be partakers of
His benefits and the blessings that comes from this night, then
we must take our place first and foremost as guilty. "'Twas
you, my sins, my cruel sins,' his sheep Tarminus were. My crimes
became the nails and unbelief the spear. We must sit down For
it's us who cried, crucify Him, crucify Him. It's me who cried,
come down from the cross, and then I will believe you. We must
take our place first of all as poor, guilty sinners. How do you feel sitting there
with His enemies? How do you feel sitting there
mocking? That's us, is it not? That's us. Oh, but let's stay just a little
bit longer. Just a little bit longer. Look
up now. Look up beyond those feet that
are bleeding. Look up beyond the nakedness
of His body. Look on up into His face. Look
up into His eyes. Do they seem to charge you with
His death? Though not a word He speaks,
everything about Him is speaking, is it not? His blood is speaking. His wounds are speaking. His
mouth is speaking. His eyes are speaking. And what
do they do? They seem to charge you with
His death. But, oh, listen. Listen closely,
for He is going to groan something that will relieve your guilt.
Listen. This is My blood. which is shed for you for the
remission of your sins. This is My body broken for you. Now listen again. And what's
that He's saying now? This blood was for thy ransom
paid. I died that you might live. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Isn't
that wonderful? And it was not. And it was night. But out of this night comes our
eternal day and our eternal life. Let's go secondly to this. It
was night. How symbolic of what these poor
apostles were going through at this time. I want to read some
places to you. Look in chapter 13. Look in chapter
13. And look here in verse 36 and
37 and 38. Look at the confusion of Peter's
mind and how symbolic and appropriate this is that the Holy Spirit
said, and it was not. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord,
whither goest thou? And Jesus answered him, Where
I go, thou canst not follow me now. But you shall follow me
hereafter. And Peter said unto him, Lord,
why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. And Jesus said unto him, Will
thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily I say unto thee,
The cock, the rooster shall not crow till thou hast denied me
thrice. Aren't we somewhat like this?
Did you ever consider this, that what Peter asked was for God's
glory. It was for the glory of our Lord.
He had only expressed love for Christ. Lord, let me go with
You. I don't want to live without
Your presence. Wouldn't it be for Your glory to let me go with
You? Wouldn't it be for my good? But
He was denied, wasn't He? And it confused Him that He was
denied. Have you ever had something upon
your heart along in desire, and you just knew that it was for
God's glory. And if He granted your desire,
it would be so good for you. But when you ask Him, He denied
you that earnest request. And boy, instead of Him giving
you that request, what does He do? He lets you fall. Instead
of having your request answered, He turns your world upside down. And you, like Peter, you fall
and you go out and weep bitterly. It was night. Have you ever faced
something like that? I went for some time in my life
and I tell you, it confused me to no end. Everything I asked
the Lord, He turned it upside down. And I could not imagine
what in the world is going on. I almost reached the place where,
Lord, I'm thinking about just asking the opposite from what
I want. And what I was asking Him seemingly was for His glory. And it was for my good. But He
denied it to me. And I couldn't understand that.
In my mind, I was perplexed and confused. And it was only much
later that I saw it wasn't His will. He had other plans. He had other purposes. Isn't
it night sometimes in our own hearts? Look here secondly in chapter
14 and look in verse 5. Look here. This is an appropriate
statement. And it was night when we consider
poor Thomas. Thomas said unto him, Lord, we
know not whither thou goest. And how can we know the way?
Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes unto the Father
but my Me. You and I can look at this now
and we say, boy, poor Thomas, how could you err? How could
you not know that he's the way? But haven't you and I erred? Don't sometimes we get confused
and we stray? We start looking at other ways,
other people, other things, and we get in darkness. And we say,
Lord, how can we know the way? We've lost the way. You know
something? Jesus Christ is the way every
time. He's always the way. Out of every
situation that we find ourselves in, He is the way. He's the way. Lord, we've lost
the way, and it's dark. It's night. Well, here's some
good advice. The Lord says, I am the way. I am the way. And look in chapter
14, and look in verse 8. Here, poor Philip. It was Peter,
then it was Thomas, and now it's Philip. Look here what Philip
said. Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it will
satisfy us." What a request this is! But what is He saying? He's
saying, Lord, we can't see the Father. You're talking about
coming back to the Father? Show us the Father! And here
Jesus, standing right in front of them, says, If you've seen
the Father, you've seen Me. And I wonder, if that didn't
confuse this poor man even more, Sometimes when you think about
the Godhead, the Trinity, do you get confused? Have you ever
set up almost an idol in your mind? When you went to pray,
you can imagine, here sits the Father, and here sits the Son,
and you see the Son, and you see the Father, and you'd almost
make an idol out of the Trinity. I tell you, one of the most confusing
doctrines in the Bible is the Trinity. And sometimes the devil
gets it in our minds and twists it, and we get it all confused
up. And the only thing that we can
do is just go to the Bible to see what it says. I was talking
with an older couple, and bless their hearts, they had sure got
confused about this. And they said, we're so glad
you've come here to preach. We haven't had a preacher to
talk to. They didn't have a pastor. And they said, will we see the
Father in heaven? They'd been so torn up about
that. I said, yes, you'll see the Father. You'll see Him in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is but one God,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and He's manifested
in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. But boy, I tell you,
when it's night, when it's night up here, it's very easy to get
all this confused, is it not? Show us the Father. Oh my, show
us the Father. Philip, He's standing right before
you. You've seen Him because you've
seen Me. Look in chapter 14 and look in
verse 22. Philip, Thomas, and Peter. And now here in verse 22 we have
Judas, the other Judas, not the betrayer, but the other Judas.
Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that you will
manifest yourself unto us and not unto the world? Poor Judas, he was in the dark
to this. He said, Lord, how are you going
to reveal yourself to me without revealing yourself to everybody?
If you come to me and show yourself to me, others are going to see
you. How are you going to manifest yourself to me? I have talked to poor sinners
and I was somewhat this way myself when I was seeking the Lord.
I kept thinking, how am I going to know it when He saves me?
Is He going to give me a feeling? Am I going to feel it? Is the
verse of Scripture going to come to me powerfully? Is He going
to give me a vision of some kind? How is He going to reveal Himself
to me? He's got His ways, doesn't He?
He's got His ways of making Himself known unto you. I want to see
myself complete in the Lord Jesus Christ, don't you? But how is
He going to let me know that? How can He make me to know? How
can He give me the assurance that I long after? He's got ways
of rebuilding Himself. And when He does, He leaves you
without any doubt that it's Him. It's Him. He makes you to know. Then lastly, look over in chapter
16. Here it includes all His disciples. Finally, all of them gets in
on it. Look in verse 17. Then said some, 16, 17, Then
said some of His disciples among themselves, What is this that
He said unto us? A little while, and ye shall
not see Me. And again, a little while, and
ye shall see Me. And because I go to the Father, They said,
therefore, what is this that he said? A little while. We cannot
tell what he said. Oh, isn't this an inappropriate
statement? And it was not. It was not in
their hearts. This was such a simple truth,
was it not? All he was saying to them, I'm
going to leave you for a few days, and I'm going to the grave,
and you're not going to see me. And I'm going to come back up
out of the grave and I'm going to my Father. And you're not
going to see me for a while. Then you'll see me again. It's
so simple to us. But boy, when it's night up here,
you can't see the most simple truths. Some people think we
pastors have got a handle on all these truths. We get up here
and preach these things. And boy, we go home and you go
home and say, man, our pastor, isn't he something else? He just
reads these verses and they just fall all to pieces. And he puts
it all together. It's not that easy, I'm telling
you. If you'd go to my study sometimes, you'd hear me praying
as I pour over one verse of Scripture for hours. And I go for a walk
and I come back and I say, what's this he's saying? Lord, I can't
tell what you're saying. And it's not up here. in my mind
and in my heart. You ever been there? Oh, we can
relate to these fellas, can we not? What an inappropriate statement. And it was mine. Wayne was teaching
this morning. I've been loving those lessons.
But my, what a mystery they are. They're so simple, but they're
mysteriously simple, aren't they? Mysteriously simple. And you
want to enter into it. And you sit there and you pray,
and I often pray on Saturdays, Lord, prepare my heart for tomorrow. I'm like poor old David, Lord,
open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from your law, your gospel. Oh, enter into these things.
Don't it make us long for the time and place where it's said,
there's no night there. And the gates of that city shall
not be shut at all, for there is no night there." And what
is that city? The gates of that city shall
not be shut. I believe in a real heaven and
I hope you do too. There is a real country, a real
city there. But this city that he was talking
about there in the book of Revelation is the church. It is the bride
of Christ, the wife of the Lord Jesus. His glorified saints. And it is said of that city,
the gates of that city shall never be shut. John Bunyan talked about ear
gate. Ear gate shall never be shut. Oh, here we cry, Lord speak
for Thy servant here. And we plead that, do we not?
We will never plead that yonder. There our ear gate will be opened
Always. The Scripture says we'll hear
His voice as the sound of many waters. He'll be loudly, distinct,
continually, eternally. He'll speak in such a clear voice
that there'll be no doubt who it is that's speaking and what
His meaning is. Come with Me, He'll say, and
sit with My throne. Come, ye blessed of My Father,
and inherit the kingdom prepared for you. Come and walk with me
in white." Oh, hear how often this ear gate closed. But it
won't be closed yonder. Our gate will never be shut again. We shall see His face. With undimmed eyes and an unsinning
heart, we shall see the King in His beauty. We shall see Him
as He is. Here we see Him sometimes and
we misunderstand Him. But He'll not be so there. We'll
see Him clearly. Here sin dims our eyes. Here we see through a glass,
darkly, darkly, just in part. But there'll be no night there.
There'll be no darkness there. Our eyes shall see Him. And Job said, I'll see Him for
myself. I'll see Him clearly. Oh, there'll be no more of this
going and pouring over a passage of Scripture to try to see Him.
Our eyes will see Him in that day. And we'll see Him clearly
because there's no doubt there. Oh, heart gate will be open,
love gate, affectionate gate. Our hearts will be open to Him
and His heart will be open to us. And He'll show us there the
exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness towards us.
You say, Bruce, how do you know that we'll see so much of Him
there? Because Jesus in His character
of the Lamb is the light of that city. That city has no need of
the sun to lighten it. He is the light of that city. And we shall see Him in His own
light. He will shine upon us and He
will show us Himself. And we shall see Him as we never
were able to see Him here. We shall worship Him there as
we never were able to worship Him here. There will be no night
there. And it was night. It was night. Lastly, consider this with me
for just a minute. Back in our text again in verse
30. And he, having received the sop, went immediately out, and
it was night. What an appropriate statement.
How symbolic was this dark night to that darkness that had filled
this traitor's heart. See Him walking along the streets,
the dark streets, seeing farms that He couldn't recognize, hearing
voices and sounds that He couldn't identify. He went out and it
was night. But He not only left the presence
of this lighted room and the presence of these poor apostles
who were seeking for life themselves, But he left Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, who is indeed this dark world's light. Where can
we go if we leave the presence of the Son of God but out into
darkness? What is it to be without the
Lord Jesus Christ? It's to be in darkness, is it
not? Don't you remember the darkness?
You were sometimes darkness. But now are you light. Oh, Judas
went out into the physical darkness, but that darkness was nothing
compared to the spiritual darkness that had colored and blinded
his soul. The Scripture says here in this
context that Satan entered into him, and therefore it was night. If you're here this morning and
you don't give yourself up to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved
by Him, then you can be sure of this. You're leaving here
without the Savior. But you're not leaving here empty. You're leaving here with the
Prince of Darkness. You may go out into the physical
light of this Sunday afternoon. But you're going out with darkness
in your soul. You're in spiritual darkness.
The prince of darkness is your master. And you're in the kingdom
of darkness. And if the Lord Jesus doesn't
have mercy upon you and send the light of His gospel into
your heart, it will be said of you what's said of Judas, and
all other perishing sinners, to them is reserved the mist
of darkness forever." Oh, He went out. The traitor went out
and negotiated the price of Him who is altogether lovely. Negotiated
the price of Him who is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And sold
Him for thirty pieces of silver. He went out. Oh, it wasn't easy
for these eleven apostles. It's not easy for us. We're not
telling somebody to come to Christ and have fun. Come to Christ
because it's always easy. Sometimes it's rough. Sometimes
it's dark in our hearts. But I tell you what, I'd rather
be with Him and go through the darkness and have a good hope
for the day than I would to go out and leave Him. and go out
into the darkness, wouldn't you? God give me a few of His people
to pray with and to agonize with and to seek the Lord with rather
than going out into the darkness of this world's night and live
and die without the Savior. And it was night. God bless His
Word. Let's pray.