Okay, now this morning, Lord
willing, we're going to look at Luke 22, verse 21, 22, and
verse 23. Luke 22. I'm taking the title
for the message from what the Lord boldly declares in verse
22. Truly, truly, truly, this is
true, barely, barely, truly, The Son of Man. Who is this Son
of Man? Notice it's a capital S. This
Son of Man is God the Son. God Almighty. The Son of Man
goeth, he goeth, as it was determined. As it was determined. But woe
unto that man by whom he is betrayed. Now, the title of the message
is Divine Determination. The Son of Man goeth as it was
determined. Divine Determination. This determination is by the
eternal, unchanging, immutable decrees of God. The Lord never
changes. His decrees never changes. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not. Now we know beyond all doubt
because the word of God teaches plainly, declared plainly with
great, great clarity, all the Lord our God wisely does, he
does according to his determination. He does according to his eternal
purpose. That's a very important word
in Scripture. All that the Lord wisely does,
He does according to His eternal determination. That word means
ordination. And everything He does, He does
on purpose. We can say with Abraham, shall
not the judge of all the earth do right? Everything he does,
he does it right. Ephesians chapter 1 says this,
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him, purpose of Him, who worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to
the praise of His glory, divine determination. This includes
all things in creation, This world as we know it, even in
its fallen state, is a glorious thing to behold. The heavens
declared the glory of God. It includes all things in creation. We read this, Colossians chapter
1, for by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that
are in the earth, visible, invisible, whether it be thrones or dominions,
principalities or powers, All things were created by Him and
for Him, for His glory. Everything in creation, it just
didn't evolve. A believer does not believe in
evolution. It's creation. God said, let
there be light, and there was light. He created all things
by purpose and according to His Divine determination. Secondly, this includes all things
in providence. All things in creation, all things
in providence happen by divine determination. All those fires
out in California. Terrible. Tremendous suffering. It just didn't happen by accident. divine determination, divine
decrees of God. We read this, for of him and
through him and to him are all things. Now that covers all the
bases. For of him and through him and
to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. Now, all things in creation
by divine determination. No problem with that, right?
No problem, believers don't have a problem with God being absolute
sovereign in what we call the providence of God. What unfolds
in time happens because God from eternity decreed and ordered
all things. Thirdly, and most especially
when we talk about salvation, salvation is by the divine determination
of God. Right? "...not of him that willeth,
or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." That
is, we're saying this, the Lord our God never justified any sinner
by accident. Salvation is not an accident.
God saves every sinner whom He wisely saves on purpose. by His
divine determination. God from eternity elected a people
and divinely appointed their end to be conformed to the image
of Christ. That's what we call predestination.
In salvation, the Lord our God saves every sinner whom He wisely
saved by His purpose and by His grace alone. Now, let me read
this to you. This is familiar to you. The
apostle said it's God who saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, given us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Preacher, what are you saying?
I'm saying this, that creation is by God's divine determination,
that providence is by God's divine determination, and so is salvation,
by God's divine determination. Now, and we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. All of that is by divine determination. You have
nothing to do with it. God saves sinners by his divine
determination. All things are of God, we read
2 Corinthians 5, all things are of God who has reconciled us
to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry
of reconciliation. All things are of God who reconciled
us. Sin did what? What did sin do? Separated us from God. That's
what happened with Adam's sin. Separated from God. Put out of
the garden. Put out of the garden. What happens
at Calvary when he died for the sin of God's elect? Reconciliation. How did that come about? by divine
determination, God determined from eternity. The Lord Jesus
Christ is called in our text here, verse 22, the son of man. Now, oftentimes and many more times
we read through the gospel, we see him called the son of man. Now he is a real man. Born of a woman in the fullness
of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law. But let us never forget that the Lord Jesus Christ, there
when that baby was born in Bethlehem, that is not when He began to
be a person. That's when His humanity was
born, but He is the eternal Son of God. He is the Son of Man
as He took our humanity into Himself. The Son of God, the
Eternal God, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He had to be the Son of Man because
God cannot suffer. Man cannot satisfy, but the God-Man
mediator in one blessed person, the Lord Jesus Christ, did both. He suffered as the Son of Man
and He satisfied God as the Son of God. You see that? He's the
Son of Man who is also the Son of God. The Son of God became
the Son of Man that the sons of men might be made sons of
God in the gospel. Now, so all this just didn't
evolve. All this came to pass by what? Divine determination. God decreed these things to be
so. Following is the Son of Man come,
He lived on this earth according to divine purpose to glorify
the Father and all that He did to accomplish our salvation.
He prayed this way in the garden, remember? Father, You've given
me power over all flesh that I should give eternal life to
as many as Thou hast given to me. And this is eternal life
that they might know thee, the only true God, Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I finished the work you gave me to do. He said upon Calvary's
tree some of the last words that he uttered from the cross as
he died that horrible death in our place. Father, he said, it
is finished. It is done. So all of that happened
by not accident. Divine determination. Divine
determination. The Lord Jesus Christ died according
to the divine purpose of God. His death was no accident. Remember he said, no man takes
my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. The Lord Jesus Christ laid down
his life for the sheep according to divine determination, according
to His eternal purpose. Everything God does, now you
write this down and remember it, everything God does, He does
on purpose. He does on purpose. I love that
word, don't you? Purpose, God's eternal purpose,
everything He does. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified the Lord of glory. Isaac chapter 2. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel of God. What is that? That's that divine
determination. The Son of Man goeth as it was
determined. Who determined that? Pilate didn't
determine that. Herod didn't determine that.
The Pharisees didn't determine that. He said the hour has come. This hour appointed of God by
divine determination. Now, let's back up one verse,
Luke 22 verse 21. But behold, the hand of him that
betrayeth me is with me on the table. The hand of Judas. the hands of Judas, the Lord
Jesus observing the Passover with his 12 apostles, instituting
the Lord's table. He said, this do in remembrance
of me. Judas was sitting right there
in the midst of these apostles. He was one of them, one of the
apostles. Here the Lord of glory sitting
with these 12 apostles, observing the Passover, observing the Lord's
table, and with him the very man who had just sold the Lord
Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver." Look back in the
same chapter when Satan entered into Judas, verse 3, Luke 22. He went His way and communed
with the chief priests and captains how He might betray Him unto
them. And they were glad and coveted
with Him for money, thirty pieces of silver we know. And He promised
and sought opportunity to betray Him unto them in the absence
of the multitude. And you can read on the end of
this chapter, He did just that. He came forth and He kissed the
Lord Jesus Christ, verse 48. Verse 47, 48, While he yet spake,
behold, a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the
twelve, went before and drew near unto Jesus, and kissed him. And the Lord said, Judas, betrayest
thou the Son of man with a kiss? And that's what he did. He kissed
him. Did he do it in sincerity? Did he do it out of love? No,
he did it out of greed. Greed. Judas betrayed the Lord
with what I call the kiss of death. This was not a shocker
to the Lord Jesus Christ, for He knows all things. In John
chapter 6, He said, I have chosen you twelve, and one of you, one of you is the devil. The
Lord knew those things. This betrayal was prophesied
in the Word of God hundreds of years before it came to pass
in Psalm 41 verse 9. And it all came to pass, the
betrayal of Judas, everything that happened that day, it was
all ordered and ordained of God and it could not be changed by
divine purpose. Let me give you two scriptures,
actually three. Proverbs 16, 4. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, even the wicked, for the day of evil. That's saying
a whole lot. That's what God says. Psalm 76,
10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder
of wrath He'll restrain. Even the wrath of man serves
the purpose of God according to His divine decree. Preacher,
do you understand all that? No. Do you believe it? Absolutely. Listen to this scripture,
Isaiah 45. He said, I am the Lord, there
is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though
you haven't known me, that they may know from the rising of the
sun from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord,
there is none else. The next verse says, the Lord
says, I form the light, right? I create darkness. How does he
create darkness? He withholds the light. I make
peace. I create evil. I the Lord do
all these things. Now how does he create evil or
calamity? He withholds His goodness. And men go their wicked ways
and do what they want to do and are totally responsible for their
wicked deeds. Yet, He said, I, the Lord, do all
these things. I form the light. I create darkness.
I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do
all these things. Now, listen to this. God even
uses the wickedness of men to accomplish his own eternal purpose.
That's just so. I can't explain that. I don't
understand it, but it's so. Now, verse 22, I'm gonna camp
on this just a moment. For the Son of Man goeth as it
was determined, but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. Now, The Son of Man goeth by
divine purpose. Remember we read in John 14 when
He said, I go, I go away to prepare a place for you. Remember? He
said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go and prepare a place for you. I will come again and
receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also.
The Son of Man goeth, goeth. He must die for our sins according
to the scriptures. If you read over here, turn a
couple of pages to Luke 24. The Son of Man goeth as it was
determined of God. He died for our sins according
to the Scripture. The Son of Man must suffer, He
must die, He must be raised from the dead the third day. That,
Luke 24, 44. These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you. All things must be fulfilled
which are written in the law of Moses, In the prophet, in
the psalm concerning me, this is the risen Lord, after he died
for our sins, God raised him from the dead, the third day,
then he opened their understanding that they might understand the
scripture, and said unto them, thus it is written, and thus
it behooved Christ to suffer. to rise from the dead the third
day, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and you are witnesses
of these things. Thus it is written, thus it behoove
Christ to suffer. He must go this way of suffering
for our sins. There's no other way. The Son
of Man must suffer and die. If He does not suffer and die
for the sin of His people, we have no salvation. We have no
justification. We have no redemption from our
sin. The Son of Man goeth. The only way God can be just
and justify the ungodly is for the Lord Jesus Christ to die
as a sinner's substitute. The just dying for the unjust
that He might bring us unto God. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. This is all by not blind fate,
certainly not luck. All this is by the Son of Man
goeth by divine determination as it was determined. You got
that point? As it was determined by God's
eternal purpose. The Son of Man goeth By the determination
of God, that word determination means declared and ordained by
the immutable decrees of God. Known unto God are all of his
works from the beginning. Now I want you to turn with me,
I want you to see this in the scripture. Turn to the book of
Acts, chapter two. All this being determined by
God. Acts chapter two, verse 22. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God, among you by
miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves also know. Now, here's a verse I quoted
a moment ago. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory. whom God raised
from the dead, having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holding of it." Why wasn't
it possible that the grave could hold him? Because he put away
our sin. Now turn to Acts chapter 4. Acts
chapter 4, look at verse 26. Acts 4, 26, and here We read that the Lord Jesus Christ
died by divine determination. Acts 4.26, the kings of the earth
stood up, the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ, for the truth against thy holy child Jesus
whom thou has anointed both Herod, Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles,
and the people of Israel were gathered together against the Christ of God to
do whatsoever thy hand, thy counsel determined before to be done. Did you get all that? You know, Herod and Pilate hated
each other, but they came together and crucified
the Lord of glory. The Pharisees, they hated the
Romans, didn't they? I mean, they said they hated
the Romans. The Romans clucked all of that,
but they became friends to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're
totally responsible for what they did. And they did exactly what they
wanted to do. They plotted and planned to kill
the Lord Jesus Christ. But he dies by divine determination
of God. They did what God determined
before to be done. You see that? That's the God
we worship. And that's the only place where
a sinner will worship is at the throne of the absolute sovereign
God. Now, when was this determination
made that the Lord would die for the sin of his people? Was
this determination determined after Adam had sinned? And God
said, uh-oh, I've got a problem now. I've got a problem now. Sin's in the picture. What am
I going to do? That's not what happened. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Revelation 13.8. Before there
was ever a sinner, the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, stood
as the surety of those covenant people. He stood as the sacrifice
of those covenant people. So when was it determined? The
gospel is as old as God. Because it's the gospel of God.
So it was determined from all eternity. Secondly, who made
this determination? Well, we just read a moment ago,
didn't we? Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Thirdly, why was this determination
made? Isn't there some other way that
sin could be put away, that atonement could be made than by the blood
of the Son of God, the Son of Man? Is there any other way?
There's no other way. Know the name of the heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. Why was this determination
made? For the Lord Jesus Christ to
make full atonement for the sin of His people, to enable God
to be a just God and Savior. To enable Him to be a just and
the justifier. But now watch this. The last part of verse 22, notice,
as it was determined, colon, But woe unto that man by whom
he is betrayed." It's not well for Judas. Now he did what he
wanted to do. He did what his wicked heart
desired to do. And he's totally responsible
for what he did. Woe to this man by whom the Lord
of Glory is betrayed. We know the end and the sad story
of Judas. He did what he wanted to do,
and he's totally responsible. But the Lord says in Matthew
26, 24, better for him not to have been born than to be born
and to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Matthew 27,
when the Lord was arrested and Judas saw what his end was, he
said, I betrayed innocent blood, and he went out and hanged himself.
Judas died in his sin and was condemned to everlasting torment. Our Lord said, if you believe
not that I am, you'll die in your sin. This is the sad end
of every sinner who will not bow to the sovereign rule of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the sad end of every
sinner that will not believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We read, He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. In closing, let me give you this.
A very vital question for us to consider. We read in this chapter here
of Judas betraying the Lord. We read in this same chapter
the Lord says to Peter that you're going to deny me not once, not
twice, but three times. Who and what made the difference
between Peter and Judas? It's obvious they were both sinners,
right? It's obvious they were both guilty.
Judas dies in his sin while Peter is saved by the grace of God.
Who made the difference? Peter had a mediator, a savior
to intercede for him while Judas was left to perish in his own
willful rebellion against God. It is only by the divine determination
and the grace of God that has made any sinner to differ. It's only by the grace of God
that you believe the gospel. I'm one of a family of ten children,
and the Lord, by His grace, singled me out, taught me the gospel,
and the rest of my family, for as far as I know, perished in
their sin and unbelief. Who made you to differ from another?
Why do I believe the gospel? My family hates what I believe.
My brothers and sisters, my mother and my father, why they hate
the gospel that I preach? It's God who has made us to differ.
We only believe the gospel because God has ordained us to eternal
life. It's only by divine determination
that you believe the gospel. We only believe the gospel because
God has ordained us to eternal life. Here's what we read, Acts
13, 48. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe the gospel. Now, if God saved you, he did so on
purpose, right? His purpose is an eternal purpose.
It's a divine determination. We only love the Lord Jesus Christ
because he first loved us. By nature we love what? Darkness,
not light. We only love Him because He first
loved us. We only believe the gospel because
God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. Don't
be afraid of that word. Predestination is a glorious
word. It's in the Bible four times.
Always predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. We only believe the gospel of
Christ because God, by His sovereign grace, has given us faith in
Him. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself. It is a gift of God. We only
believe the gospel because He chose us in Christ before the
foundation of the world. Is that right? We are bound to
give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation through
sanctification and belief of the truth, whereunto He called
you by our gospel, through the obtaining of the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ." That's 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13-14. We only... Excuse
me. We only believe the gospel because
God has appointed us to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke 22, look down at verse
29. He said, and I appoint unto you
a kingdom as my father hath appointed me. You're appointed to this
kingdom. We read this. 1 Thessalonians
5 verse 9, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. It's by His divine determination
that you believe the gospel. You got to hold what I'm saying. Salvation is by the will of God,
the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am what I am
by the grace of God. I'm going to quit with this.
May the Lord be pleased to bless us for Christ's sake in his divine
determination. May we be blessed to sing the
new song of redemption now and forever. And here's the way that
song goes. Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sin in his own blood, unto him that washedeth from
our sin in his own blood." Who did the washing? He did. Who
did the shedding of the blood? He did. in His own blood, and
hath made us kingdom priests under our God and His Father,
to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. What is that? Salvation by divine
determination. That's the gospel of the grace
of God in Christ Jesus.