Okay, now today I want to try
to look at a most interesting, interesting portion of scripture
found in Luke 22, and we want to consider verse 47 down through
verse 53. I kind of struggled with the
title today, and I thought about entitling it
first This is your hour and your power of darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Now, I don't enjoy
darkness. Do you? I don't like to drive
in the dark. I don't like to walk in the dark.
I love the light, the sunshine. I like to walk in the light.
And we know that Christ is that light. But what are we by nature? Children of darkness. Children
of darkness. But I've settled on this title.
It kind of sets forth the theme of these verses. The Lord Jesus
Christ betrayed with a kiss. Notice verse 47. While he yet
spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one
of the twelve. Now they were just twelve apostles.
Judas The Lord said, I know whom I've chosen, and one of you is
a devil. One of the twelve, Judas, went
before them and drew near. He calls him when he draws near.
It's not recorded here, but in Matthew and Mark, he draws near
and said, Master, Master. And then he kissed him to identify
him as the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord, verse 48, said
to him, Judas, betrayeth now the Son of Man with a kiss. A kiss. Now, he could have identified
him with some other way. He could have pointed to him.
He could have said, that's the man. But he walks up, and maybe
he even embraces him. He addresses him, as recorded
in Mark and Matthew, he addresses the Lord as Master. Master. And
then he kisses the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as soon as the Lord
finished praying, Lord, not my will, but Thy will be done. As
soon as the Lord finished instructing His apostles to watch and pray,
lest you enter into temptation. Judas, the betrayer, led the
band of religious Jews, which included the chief priests, the
captains of the temple, the Roman soldiers, and they came to do
one thing. They came to arrest, to bind
up and arrest the Lord Jesus Christ. Judas, being one of the
twelve, was also full of, how could you say anything but hatred?
He was a man who was full of hatred. This man despised the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was full of hypocrisy and
deceit. He betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ
with a kiss to identify him to the soldiers so they could arrest
him and bind him. What inspired such wickedness? Well, Judas was a wicked man,
but we know from reading earlier on in this chapter that Satan
entered into him. Satan inspired him and led him,
and Judas was a willing participant now. Don't get me wrong there,
but let's turn, hold your place there, and turn to Mark chapter
14. Mark chapter 14, verse 43. Mark 14, 43. While he yet spake, cometh Judas,
one of the twelve, with him a great multitude," verse 43, Mark 14,
"...with swords and with staves from the chief priests and the
scribes and the elders. And he that betrayed him had
given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, the same is he,
you take him and lead him away safely." And as soon as he was
come, he go straightway to him and said, Master, Master. And he kissed him. Now, it's
not everyone that says Lord, Lord, going to enter into the
kingdom of God, but he that doeth the will of the Father, and that's
to bow and submit to the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
we certainly learn and see that the actions of Judas, A depraved
and guilty sinner against God. We certainly learn there's no
death of sin and wickedness that this flesh is not capable of
committing. Do you see that in yourself? Just look through human history.
Just turn on the evening news. I've got to the point where I
almost don't even like to watch the news anymore. I just turn
over and watch Andy Griffith or somebody else. Because it's
just nothing but a total barrage of murder, rape, robbery, stealing,
all these things that go on. What a terrible record we have.
I mean, we have a terrible record. And we have a terrible record
ever since sin entered into this world. What did Cain do to his
brother Abel? He killed him. He killed him
over the way God saved sinners. We know from reading the Scripture
in Adam all sinned and Adam all died. We know from reading the
record of Scripture that there is none righteous, no not one.
Does that include you? There's none that seeketh after
God, there's none that understands God, not left to himself. But
thanks be to God, our great God, that he restrained sinners as
he does, and he does. Or this human race would not
last one single day. If the Lord didn't restrain,
you see, we're so wicked, so sinful, so depraved, if God didn't
restrain us by His mighty sovereign power, we'd all kill one another
by sundown. That's how wicked we are. That's
how wicked. Sin unrestrained brings death. Sin, the wages of sin is death. We read in Psalm 76, Surely the
wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath God
will restrain. The Lord even uses the wickedness
of men to accomplish His purpose. We see that in Judas, don't we?
I mean, Judas is doing exactly what he wanted to do. And he
was inspired and Satan entered into him. But remember, the devil
is God's devil. The devil doesn't do anything
outside the will of God, outside the command of God. You remember when Job stood before
the Lord and Satan desired to have him? And even Peter, remember
the Lord said, I prayed for you. Satan could not touch Job without
God's permission. The second thing we see here,
as we read in John 18, we also learned, we also read, that the
Lord Jesus Christ, when He was arrested, when He was betrayed
by His friend, He called Judas His friend, when He was betrayed
and He was arrested, The Lord is in absolute universal control
of all things. When they came forth and the
Lord went forth to meet them and said to them, whom do you
seek? Remember, he said, I am. And what happened to the soldiers?
What happened to the chief priest? What happened to the captain
of the temple? What happened to Judas himself? They all fell
backward. He knocked them out. He could
have simply walked away. The Lord willingly submitted
to the will of God to the wickedness of these men to accomplish all
of God's purpose. They could not have arrested
him had he not willed it and brought it to pass that the scriptures
might be fulfilled. Now, hold your place there and
now turn to Matthew 26 where also we have this record. Matthew 26, verse 49, And forthwith
he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master, and kissed Him. And the
Lord said unto him, Friend, Wherefore art thou come? Then came they,
and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. And behold, one of
them, which were with the Lord Jesus, stretched out his hand,
and drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest,
and smote off his ear, his right ear, as we know. Then the Lord
said to him, Put up again thy sword into the place, for all
they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father? And he shall presently
give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall
the Scripture be fulfilled? In the same hour the Lord said,
Are you come out as against a thief with swords and clubs to take
me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you laid no
hands on me. But all this was done, verse 56, that the Scriptures
of the prophets might be fulfilled, Then all the disciples forsook
him and fled." All of them forsook him and fled. You see, the Lord
did not need for Peter to try to defend the Lord of glory,
did he? Twelve legions of angels could have been immediately summoned
to the scene had the Lord willed it, but was not his purpose.
Remember I said I must lay down my life, the scriptures must
be fulfilled, and here's the point for us. The Lord does not
need our help to accomplish our salvation. We know that salvation
is of the Lord. from election to glorification.
Salvation is of the Lord. It's all of God, all of His grace,
all of His mercy, all of His love, all accomplished by Him. Determined, dependent, and accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not need our help, our
assistance whatsoever. All of God. in today's bulletin
on the back page. Don't turn to it now. In today's
bulletin on the back page is a quotation from a favorite passage
in the book of Psalms. And the article is written by
Pastor Elmquist down in Florida. But it's one of my favorite,
favorite Scriptures from Psalm 57, 2. I will cry unto God Most
High, unto God that performeth all things for me. All things He performs for His
people, and He performs all things well. He does all things well. He does all things with completeness
and perfectness for us. If He doesn't perform all things
in salvation for us, redemption, righteousness, sanctification,
and all these things, righteousness, if He doesn't perform all things
for us perfectly, we have no hope. Thank God, He's the perfect
Savior, the One who has performed all things for me. Salvation
does not depend upon my performance. My faithfulness, my commitment,
or my anything else. Salvation is dependent totally
upon Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Now here's the third thing I
want us to consider. The Lord Jesus Christ is even
merciful to those who hate Him and despise Him. Aren't you glad? Look back at Luke 22. Verse 49 and 50. When they which were about him
saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite
with the sword? And evidently they didn't wait
for the answer, and one of them, we know it was Peter, the servant
of the high priest, cut off his right ear. And the Lord answered
and said, let them do what they want, suffer them to do what
they want, permit them to do what they want, and he touched
the ear and healed him. Now, imagine having your ear
cut off. I mean, this is a bloody scene.
There's blood coming out of this guy's head. There's blood flowing
everywhere. The ear is down in the dust on
the ground. And it doesn't say that the Lord reached down and
picked up that ear that was cut off and put it back on and stuck
it back on. It says that the Lord touched
him and healed him. What was left of that ear, he
touched his ear and he healed him. He created a new ear. He made his ear that was not
functional because Peter had lopped off his ear. And he gave
them a new ear, his right ear, and he caused them to hear again.
Now, the Lord immediately healed this enemy. Healed this enemy. Over here, let me just turn back
and read it to you. Peter, having a sword, drew it,
and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear, and
the servant's name was Malchus. And the Lord healed his ear."
Touched him. Touched him. The hand of God
reached out and touched him and healed him. Oh, that God would
do that for us right now. Reached down His hand of mercy
and touched my ears that I might hear Him. Touched my eyes that
I might see Him by faith. that he might make us new creatures
in Christ. Now, consider this thought a
moment. This we read here of the Lord physically healing this
man's ear is the last recorded physical miracle the Lord performed
for a sinner in healing this man's ear. The last one right
here. And you know for whom he did
it? An enemy of the gospel. The Lord is so merciful. He could
have let that man bleed to death right there on the spot. But
the Lord is so long-suffering and so merciful, He even shows
mercy to this one who came to do him harm. The Lord of glory is still performing
miracles like this for sinners, enemies of God, every day right
now. Do you believe that? I do. Thank
you, Lord. Thanks be to God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's still giving
sinners ear to hear the gospel of Christ, and he raises them
from the dead. You hath thee quickened who were
dead. The dead don't hear anything,
do they? The dead don't see anything, do they? Oh, but when He raises
us from the dead and gives us eyes of faith and ears to hear
the gospel, oh how blessed we are. Our Lord said in Matthew
13, blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they
hear many other men have never heard, have never seen, have
never believed the gospel. You see, the point is the Lord
of Glory is still showing mercy to sinners and He delights to
do so. If you know yourself to be as
vile as that dying thief, you're a blessed man. You're a blessed
man. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
died for The ungodly, when we were yet without strength, in
due time Christ died for the ungodly. We read this about the
Lord delighting to show mercy. Who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity, that passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delights in mercy. Now, this ought to encourage
you if you're a sinner, guilty, vile, and wretched. It encourages
me because I'm the chief of sinners. I've never read in scripture
one time where the Lord of glory ever turned away a mercy beggar. Not one time. Not one time. Every sinner who came to the
Lord begging for mercy, Lord be merciful to me the sinner.
And the Lord said that man went down to his house justified rather
than the other. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. The Lord never turns away a mercy
beggar. He says, come unto me. Come unto
me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you
rest. He said, come boldly to the throne
of grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. If he says come boldly, and that
word boldly means come with liberty, come with freedom, come to the
throne of grace that you may obtain mercy, find grace to help. in time of need. You see his
throne is a throne of grace by which he dispenses mercy. He
has a storehouse full of mercy that cannot be exhausted. I love
Jeremiah's words in Lamentations chapter 3, where he says, It
is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, because His
compassion they fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. And then over in the book of
Titus chapter 3, where the Lord says through the Apostle Paul,
by God the Holy Spirit, it's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. Can you find the book of Titus?
Let's turn over there and read a portion of that in Titus chapter
3, right before the book of Hebrews. and then Philemon and back to
Titus right after 2nd Timothy, right after 2nd Timothy. Look
at verse 3, this is Titus 3.3, Titus 3.3, right after 2nd Timothy,
Titus, Philemon, Hebrews. Now, we for we ourselves also
were sometimes foolish, Disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust,
pleasures, living in malice, envy, hateful, hating one another. Why would you show mercy to such
a man that's full of foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lust, pleasure, living in malice, envy, hateful, hating
one another? Well, that man doesn't deserve
mercy. Judgment! Judgment! Look what God says. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not, verse 5, by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration, by the
renewing work of God the Holy Spirit, which is shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, yet being justified by His grace."
There it is. Why does God delight to show
mercy? Because He justifies sinners by His grace. That we should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Heirs according to the hope of
eternal life. Look back at Titus chapter 1.
Titus chapter 1, we had this on the radio program this morning.
Verse 1, Titus 1, 1, Paul, a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness, that glorifies God,
in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began, but hath in due time manifested his word
through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment
of God our Savior." Now, look back at Luke 22. Luke 22. And let me skip a few
pages here. And let's get to the last point.
I think I can do that. Well, I'm going to do that. We'll
come to the last point. I've taken too much time on the
first point. So, we'll get down to the last point. Back to Luke 22, look at verse
52 and verse 53. Then said Jesus unto the chief
priests, captains of the temples, and the elders, which were come
to him, Now this was a mixed multitude. The Romans, no doubt,
were involved. The chief priests, the religious
crowd led by Judas. Then you come out against a thief with swords and with staves. They approached the Lord Jesus
Christ not as a prophet, not as one who went about doing good,
not as one who was well-known from Galilee, who had fed and
healed many people. They approached him and came
to him and arrested him as a common thief. Men by nature do not have right
and high thoughts about God. They do not want God to be God. Let God be true, and every man
a liar. You come out against me as a
thief. Remember what they said of him?
You're a gluttonous man. You're a friend of sinners. You're
a wine-dipper. Verse 53, when I was daily with
you in the temple, you stretched forth no hand against me. You
know why? They were restrained. God restrained
them. But now here they're unrestrained
to accomplish the will of God. You remember we read in Acts
chapter 4, they did what God determined before to be done.
Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Jews and the Gentiles were all
gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ to
do whatsoever God determined before to be done. You couldn't
stretch no hand against me then, but this is what he says, but
this is your hour. This is your time. This is your
hour and power of darkness. Now here's where I want to go with
this. We see these sinners doing their worst, don't we? I mean they came to the Lord,
considered Him as a common thief to arrest Him. to crucify Him. You remember they plotted together. We read in Scripture how they
might come together to destroy Him. That was their whole intent,
to put Him out of the ministry, to end His life, to do Him harm. And yet, out of this hour of
darkness and sinfulness and the wickedness of men comes light
and salvation and the glory of God shines in the face of Christ. We see men doing their worst,
right? But we see God doing His utmost
best. Out of this wickedness and depravity
comes the glory of God shining in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We read for God who command the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. We know the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life we have in
Christ. So, two things in closing. Two
things in closing. First, we see this. I've touched
on it before. What are we by nature? What are
we by nature? We have this hour and power of
darkness. By nature, we are children of
darkness. Now, preacher, can you make good
on that? I think I can, but if you want
to turn with me, you can. If not, just sit and I'll read
it to you. In John chapter 3, Verse 18, he that believeth on
him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. And this is condemnation, that
light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. Well, just once in
a while. No, everything you do, Everything
you say, everything connected with what you touch, think, and
say is contaminated with what you are by nature. Sin, darkness,
depravity, and guilt. Preacher, is it really that bad?
It's much worse. By nature we are ignorant, blind,
guilty, we love darkness, we hate God, the carnal mind is
enmity against God. This is our hour of darkness. We're born in the dark. Born in sin, shape, and iniquity.
We are by nature children of wrath, even as others. Children
of darkness, hating God, hating one another, loving darkness. That's us. That's you. So I don't see myself that bad.
Well, it's because God hasn't taught you. If the Lord ever teaches you
who you really are, you will know that you are guilty, vile,
and wretched before God who is most holy. But that's what we
are by nature. children of wrath, even as others,
born in the dark, walking in the dark, ignorant, and will
stay that way, ignorant of spiritual things, unless God intervenes
and commands the light to shine in your heart, to give you the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. So what are we by nature? Children
of wrath. What are we by His grace? Well,
let's turn and read about it. Turn to Colossians chapter 1. You see, we've been called out of the
kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God's dear
Son. And it's all by His will, by His purpose, by His sovereign
grace. Colossians chapter 1 verse 12, giving thanks unto
the Father, This is God who is God. In everything give thanks. Which hath made us meet, now
that word there can be rendered fit, to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. What's the opposite of darkness?
Light. Who controls the light? We have some light switches in
this building. And I don't think the lights in this building have
ever come on by themselves. Someone controls the switch.
Someone flips the switch and controls the lights. Who controls
all light everywhere? Almighty God controls the switch. He turns the light on and we
see. We see ourselves as sinners.
We see the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our salvation. He has
made us meet to be partakers of a divine nature, of His inheritance,
His inheritance of grace, of the saints of God who are sanctified
in light, in Christ. You remember I said a while ago,
the Lord said, I am the light, who had delivered us. See verse
13? Look at it carefully. Who delivered
us. from the power of darkness."
Now, we're in the dark. How are we going to get out of
the dark? We're in the grave, dead in sin. How are we going
to get out of that grave? "...who had delivered us." Who
delivered us? God delivered us by His will,
His grace, His power, by the blood atonement of Christ, from
the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son. So by nature, where are we? In
the dark. In the kingdom of darkness. Loving
it so! What happens when God doesn't
work a grace in our heart? and crosses our path with the
gospel. When the work of God the Holy Spirit is done in conviction
and regeneration, what happens? He translates us out of the kingdom
of darkness and puts us into the kingdom of God's dear Son. What do we call that? Salvation by the grace of God.
Salvation by the grace of God alone in