Would you be so kind, please, as to take your Bibles and turn to John, the Gospel of John chapter 13? There are certain passages in the Bible that ministers would prefer not to preach. Some of them are just difficult. I mean Peter talks about how some of Paul's writings are hard to understand in his second letter. And some passages are full of deep mysteries and they're hard to interpret and even harder to apply. There's other passages that are difficult to read and to preach and to receive because they're they're unsettling stories. The Bible is very honest and frank about life, both the glories of God and the difficult and sometimes to pray things that humanity does. And there are some passages that appear to be lacking in any grace or any hope or any good news. I don't think they're really as such. That but they appear to be like that. And so they're kind of sad passages and we have one of those this morning. It's a story of a man who was one of the apostles of Jesus Christ and he chose to portray Jesus Christ and sell him unto death. Now it would be nice if we could just skip this passage. Move on to the part where Jesus begins to talk about the unity of the church and the love of God and abiding in Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit as he enters into the uproom discourse. But then we remind ourselves that all scripture is inspired by God and it's profitable for us. ministers charge to preach the word in season and out of season when it's popular or not popular when the passage is fun and when it's not. And he's to be a steward of what's called the full counsel of God's word. These may be things we we don't want to hear and maybe things that sometimes we don't want our children to hear but I would remind you that they're in the Bible put there by the Holy Spirit for particular reason and we don't have to guess what that reason is. He tells us over in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 11 through 13 he says now these things happened to them as an example but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heedless default no temptation has overtaken you but such as this common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure that temptation. Now Paul says that these stories most of them occurring in the historical passages they're difficult to hear and sometimes they're unsettling but they've been given to us as an example and as instruction because the things that these people were tempted with are the common things that were tempted with. Now we would say now pastor we would never betray Jesus Christ. Well isn't that what Peter said. Lord I would never deny you. I ain't didn't really intend to but he did and I'm sure that when he started out in the ministry Judas Iscariot had no intention of selling Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver and it appears that even after he did so and he realized that he sold him to crucifixion he was deeply remorseful wanted to return the money and wanted forgiveness and so you know these people were tempted with the same things we are. In fact when John Calvin comes to this passage in his commentary he says it is proper that when the children of God have heard the sentence of the ungodly they should themselves feel uneasiness that they may sift themselves and guard against hypocrisy for this gives them an opportunity of examining themselves and their life. Here's the story. John chapter 13 beginning in verse 21. After saying these things Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified truly truly I say to you one of you will betray me. The disciples looked at one another uncertain of whom he spoke. One of the disciples whom Jesus loves reclining it table close to Jesus so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking so that disciple leaning back against Jesus said to him Lord who is it? Jesus answered it is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. So when he adipped the morsel he gave it to Judas the son of Simon is carried. Then after you taken the morsel, Satan entered him and Jesus said to him what you are going to do do quickly. Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that because Judas had the money bag Jesus was telling him to buy what we need for the feast or that he should give something to the poor so after receiving the morsel of bread he immediately went out and it was night. It is interesting that again in our series here in John we are confronted with the sovereign timing of the Lord that we are reading about John's version of the last supper on the morning that we're taking the Lord's supper which makes the message of the story all the more poignant for us. I think that's fascinating because I really don't plan those sorts of things. In fact I laid out this preaching plan back in September of last year and so God knew we would be on a communion Sunday and that's where we are. I want us to notice three things about this story of Judas and his betrayal. First of all his betrayal took the church completely by surprise. No one suspected that it would happen. Secondly the portrayal of Judas is scary. It was not something that happened suddenly. It was a culmination of a lifelong process. The culmination of a lifelong process and thirdly the portrayal of Judas sad as it was was the instrument of God. In fact the Bible says God predestined that this should take place. So let's look at this first truth. The betrayal of Judas is scary. It took the church completely by surprise. Look again at the first few verses of this text. After saying these things, what? Well go back up into chapter 13 and look if you will at verse 18. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen but the scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. I am telling you this now before it takes place that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. So he's referring to the fact that the scripture will be fulfilled and someone will betray him. And after saying these things to them Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified again. Truly truly I say you one of you will betray me. The disciples looked at one another uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples whom Jesus loved that would have been John the right of this apostle was reclining a table close to Jesus so Simon Peter made a motion to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple John leaning back against Jesus said to him, Lord who is it? Jesus answered it is he whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. So when he had dipped the morsel he gave it to Judas the son of Simon is carried. In all four counts of the gospel friends not one person suspects Judas is carried. In fact in all four of the gospel accounts when Jesus says one of you will be training. Not only do they not suspect Judas and three of the accounts they ask Jesus Christ is an eye? Am I going to do it? And here they're wondering who it might be. They do not suspect Peter the leader of the group who would deny Jesus Christ nor Judas the treasurer of the group who would betray him. They suspect themselves. Interesting that when Jesus says one of you will fail me in the end they all say is it going to be me? Am I the one that's going to do it? J.C. Ryle says let us take note that neither here nor afterward does any suspicion appear to have fallen upon Judas? For anything we can see he looked as good as Peter or James and John and as unlikely to betray his master. The statement that Judas had the money bag shows that position occupied among the apostles. He was so far from being suspected that he had the charge of the common store of money. One commentator even thinks that he must have been a man remarkable for wisdom, prudence, economy and faithfulness. He was the treasurer of the church and he was the one they least expected. Who was this guy? You know he's not mentioned often and never mentioned well. His name is Judas is Harriet. Judas, literally in Hebrew, ish, carry off. Ish, man, carry off the town he came from. Judas, the man from carry off, has run. In other words unlike the other eleven apostles who were all Galileans from the north Judas was a Judean from the south which means he was probably better educated. He was obviously not a fisherman. He was well acquainted with the cosmopolitan life of Jerusalem. He wasn't a country bumpkin like the rest of them. He was a man who we know from the scripture had zealot tendencies. He favored the overthrow of Rome, the violent overthrow of Rome. In fact, whenever the apostles are paired up two by two, they're always sent out two by two. Peter is always with John and in this case Simon the zealot is always with Judas is Harriet the zealot. The two zealots together. He's a man who's a solitary figure. Unconnected to the other eleven who all knew each other and in some way had interfaced and yet he gains such prestige that not not Matthew the tax collector but the educated man is given the purse of the group. It's kind of like somebody working for the IRS for us and we don't make him the treasurer. Of course in our case that may be a wise thing to do. But he's a man who has great trust in the eyes of people. The problem is as we learned about him in scripture, he is a man beset by three sins, one the sin of avarice. He was a greedy man. We just learned back in chapter 12 that he was dipping in to the coffer and taking money for himself and that he was willing to sell Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. He was a man of ambition. He saw Jesus Christ and his power bringing to earth a great kingdom in which he would be one of those twelve to sit on thrones and rule the nations as Jesus had promised about two years earlier. He was a man who was worldly and because of his worldliness and his worldly desires, he was given to spiritual decline. Jesus says, did I not choose all of you the twelve and yet one of you is a devil? He spoke of Judas the son of Simon his carrier for he, one of the twelve was going to betray him. I'm not trying to be unkind or snide in any way. This is certainly no reflection upon any of our officers but folks, just to put this in context, if Judas' great was a member of our congregation, he'd probably be one of the first men to be nominated to be an elder or deacon of the church, be the chairman of the administration committee and probably be our treasurer. Refined, educated of noble character, we would say what a marvelous leader in which to entrust our funds. So the church is completely taken by surprise but Jesus is not. Jesus has watched this happen for three years as he's watched Judas Iscariots' spiritual decline lead him to this place. That's the second thing I want us to see this morning. The betrayal of Judas Iscariot was the culmination of a long process. This is a significant, it's the key tone of the little context, the little paragraph verse 27, listen carefully to what John writes. Then after he had taken the morsel, St. Andrew entered into him, Jesus said to him, what you are going to do do quickly. Let me read it to you the way it probably should literally be read in the Greek. Then when he had taken the morsel, St. Andrew at that point entered into him. And Jesus said what you have been in the process of doing now do quickly. The Greek present tense translated here are going to do always has the meaning of a process that has been ongoing for some period of time. He looked at Judas Iscariot over his left shoulder and said, son, you've been headed this way for a long time. Now you go out now and get it done. Let's be done with this. It's come to this that you will betray the son of man for your own purposes. I want us to see these things as well. Judas Iscariot chose to follow Jesus Christ just as Jesus Christ chose him. There was no difference in his calling that in the other eleven apostles. He became interested, began to follow Jesus Christ, turned the sermon on the mind, heard about the king of God and said, I'm interested. I'm in. We learned in John chapter 6 when it got difficult and all the other people left and the disciples decided to stay, Judas stayed with him. He chose to remain faithful to Jesus Christ even when it was difficult. We know that Judas Iscariot was well respected. We know that Judas Iscariot went out and healed the sick and cast out demons and preached the gospel and people were converted through the ministry of Judas Iscariot. But the man was eaten up with greed and ambition and worldly desires and the word of God that Jesus Christ was placing into him was being choked out by these three weeds. He may be the one that Jesus Christ is referring to. Went in the parable of the siren he sees. He says, now there are some seed sewn among the thorns. These are people who hear the gospel but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things enter into the soul and choke out the word of God so it produces no fruit. Three things. The cares of the world, his ambition, that a seedfulness of riches, his greed or avarice and the desire for other things, his worldly yearnings, choked out the word of God, hardened his heart and allowed Satan to enter in and begin to influence him. Jesus says again, did not choose you the twelve but one of you is a devil. One of you has given yourself over to these things and your heart is hardened. You know when Judas Iscariot was remorseful, sad over what happened to Jesus Christ, he did everything right except for one thing. He wept, he told the leaders of Israel he was wrong, he gave him back the money but he never repented. He is the one that he Bruce 6 talks about. For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, have shared in the Holy Spirit, have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come and then having fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the son of God to their own shame and holding him up in contempt. One commentator FF Bruce says, God has pledged himself to pardon every person who truly repents but the scripture and experience a like suggests that it is possible for a human being to arrive at the state of heart and life where they are no longer able to repent. Judas gave in to these common temptations that such are common demand. He developed deeply rooted sins in his character that dominated his personality and shaped the person he was. He became increasingly under Satan's influence. He rejected the word of God. He rejected Christ's mission. He didn't want the king of heaven, he wanted the king of earth and he wanted Jesus Christ to bring it and he wanted to be prominent in it and so when all of that came to not. Judas' chariot on Monday Thursday evening was given over to Satan. It says when Satan had entered into him not for the first time but now for the dominion time, for the complete control of this man's soul. Jesus released him to the course of life he had been pursuing for a long time.
This is what makes the passage a little scary. It tells us that it's possibly the baptized as a covenant child to grow up in the church, to go to communicance class, to make a public profession of faith, become a full member of the church, go to Christian schools, Christian colleges, get involved in mission trips, become an officer of the church, go to seminary, get ordained, spend your life in the pulpit, lead thousands of people to Christ and still lose your soul. There's nothing that says that God can't use an unconverted man to bring other people to conversion. He once spoke out of the mouth of a jackass. He can certainly speak out of the mouth of an intelligent, unconverted person. You say how does all this happen? It happens in a slow, deliberate way. Our enemy is a sly fox. He knows that every time we reject the word of God, every time we will not repent of a specific sin, every time we will not step out in faith but covered over with religious activity, that two things happen. Our spirit becomes numb to the things of God and our heart becomes hardened to the point where eventually it can no longer repent and it cannot believe. Judas isn't the only one we see like this. Esau was like this. Aiken was like this. Saul was like this. And the scripture in Hebrew says, you know that afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for. He found no chance to repent though he sought for it with tears. There's a huge spiritual difference loved ones between remorse and repentance. Remorse is when I'm sorry for what sin has done to me and to other people. Repentance is when I turn from sin and give myself over to God. Judas was sorry for what sin had done to Christ. Sorry for what had done to him and the apostles. Sorry for what it had done to the king of God. He thought it had ruined the whole plan. Jesus was dead. But he never turned and said father, without you, I have no hope. Save me because I'm wicked. The wages of sin is always death. That sentence, chief end in life, is to dishonor God and to keep you from enjoying him forever. His goal is to turn you inward toward your pet sins, then turn you away from the Bible, turn you into a critic of the church and of the gospel and finally turn you against Jesus Christ all the while helping you look very religious. And the more Jesus Christ pressed into Judas' life and the more he backed up, the more he backed into the clutches of the one who was waiting for him until Jesus said, you know he's got you. You're under his control. You go do now what you've intending to do all along. It's a scary thing but it's a great reminder to us that we need to respond to the Holy Spirit's prompting to repentance. Repentance turns us to God before sin turns us away from God for good. The third thing we see is this. As horrible as it is, the betrayal of Judas Iscariot was the instrument that God had chosen to send Jesus to the cross for our salvation, 28 through 30. Now no one at the table knew why he had said to him some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, buy what we need for the feast or that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out and it was night. Let me kind of paint a picture of what's happening here. The 13 men in that room, Jesus and the 12 apostles are sitting at a U-shaped table, one table going this way, two of them going this way. They were eating in the Greek style at bank which means they were leaning on their left elbow like this and eating with the right hand. The man at the place of honor is always to the left so that the host Jesus Christ in the center can take the choice morsels and give it to the gift, the guest, that is Judas Iscariot. The one at his right was John so that when he leaned back to say master, who is it, as the King James Version says, his head rest on Jesus breast. The other 12 were down the table, no doubt Peter is down this way where he catches John's sight and says, meaning find out who it is. So John leads over and says, master, who is it? Jesus whispers in his ear, only John hears this. It is the one to whom I dip this bread and give it to him. Jesus takes a piece of unleavened bread. We assume this is the Passover meal. He dips it in the bitter herbs. Now we know why the bitter herbs is part of the ceremony of Passover. It symbolizes the bitterness of a betrayal by a dear friend. He hands it to Judas and whispers in his ear, whatever you're going to be doing, you go now and get it done quickly. Some people around them hear that. They assume that Judas Iscariot has got a job to do as the treasure. It's a likely conclusion because the treasure had to do two things this night. Go and buy an extra supply of unleavened bread for the seven days of the unleavened bread feast. And also it was the tradition of Jews at that time to take their money and by midnight on Passover, go to the temple and make an offering for the poor and the homeless who stayed in the temple overnight. So they assumed, as John says, that he was going to go buy something or give some offering to the poor. But Jesus Christ knows what he's going to do. Jesus Christ knows that he's going to fulfill the scriptures. The betrayal of Jesus was not a surprise to Jesus Christ. It was part of God's plan. It fulfilled Psalm 41 verse 9, even my close friend in whom I trusted, who weight my bread has lifted up his heel against me. To lift up the heel is a great insult even to this day in the Near Eastern world. It is like making an obscene gesture to someone. It is not my enemy who taught me, says Psalm 55. Then I could bear it. It is not an adversary who deals insolently with me. Then I could hide from him. But it is you, oh man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together within God's house. We walked in the throne together. Along with this and the prophecy of Zechariah chapter 11 that he would betray the master for the price of a common slave, 30 pieces of silver, all of these scriptures were fulfilled. And I want you to notice something. Look at the very last words of this little story that Judas got up and went out. And it was night. It was dark. Dark outside in the streets and dark inside the soul of Judas is chariot. The light of the world had been given to him for three and a half years. Whatever had penetrated had now been refracted out because of his sin. He went out in total darkness. Jesus had said, and this is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil. Jesus tells us in John 6 that he chose Judas for this. And the apostles tell us in their accounts this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men for truly in this city that were gathered together against your Holy servant Christ whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever God's hand and God's plan had predestined to take place. It's that old irony about the will of a man making a choice and the sovereign God choosing his great plan. I can't bring them together. All I can tell you is that this was God's plan and Christ's choice and that Judas was totally responsible for what he did and yet there is a moment of grace here. There is a tender moment when Jesus Christ takes bread. This is my body which will be given to you. He dips it in the bitter herbs symbolizing his suffering and he offers it to Judas as if to say it is still not too late to come over to the light and to come with me. At the very last moment, in the place of honor, the place of honor, Judas is offered the hope and the opportunity that he can still turn from the darkness to the light and be saved.
I know there are people in this room who are dissolutioned about the church. Can't have this many people living this many years and all of this combined cumulative experience and not have that to be true. There are pastors whom you loved and admired who fell into sin and out of office and away from Christ and it's been disappointing. Elders or deacons perhaps in your childhood who took your mother away from your father by means of adultery. Christian counselors who took advantage of you in your hour of vulnerability. Choir directors that ran off with somebody in the choir and scandalized everyone, a church treasure who embezzled the funds, a youth worker who molested someone you or someone close to you, professor and seminary that you admired who's turned away from the faith, a husband, a father, a son who was once a vibrant and fruitful missionary who's now left the faith. I've had this experience. Two men in ministry, I deeply labored the man who under whose preaching I was converted and the pastor who was my pastor when I was a intern in seminary and both of them have been removed from their churches for infidelity and yet I think of what Joseph
said, you intended evil against me but God has used it for good for the salvation of many souls even to this day. Judas is carried intended evil against Christ but God used it for great good
and Jesus Christ to the very end offered what's called the sap, piece of bread, saped in bitter herbs, his body saped in blood to Judas is carried and said, if you can overcome your disappointment with me there is still a chance to enter the kingdom of God. That is the good news in this message. That little piece of sap that is here before us this morning. John Calvin says that Augustan was wrong in assuming that this was the Lord's Supper. Calvin says it wasn't. The John's not recording the Lord's Supper. It's hard to determine whether he was or not when you read the other apostles' account of that night but at least the events of John were around this Lord's Supper and at least we know from 1 Corinthians that this Lord's Supper is for those who have been born again, who've come alive in the Spirit, who've turned from sin and repentance and turned to faith in Christ alone, who've been baptized and identified themselves as a follower of Jesus Christ, who've joined his community called the faith, the church, the assembly, who are in good standing with that church and in good relationships with other believers and they are offered this sap again, time after time after time and those who are not are not turned away but told to take this moment to repent of sin and put faith in Jesus Christ. This is a day folks for a child to trust in Christ for the first time here around this table. This is an opportunity for a teenager or a college student to come back to church and back to Christ and back to the faith. This is an offer of a new life for a single person caught up in a life of immorality of one sort or another. This is the calling for a career person to put Christ first the church second the job third to get the kingdom of God in right perspective. This is the beginning of a reconciliation between an estranged husband and wife. This is a restoration to the church for those who've been angry and rejected it for a long time. This may be the last chance for an old man to stop playing church and come in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ. That's why this story is in the Bible. I'm convinced of it. Here this day and this place Jesus Christ leans over to you in this place of honor that you are and he offers you himself one more time. You do not know loved ones whether this is the last supper or not. We've had experiences this summer that even young people are never guaranteed that they'll be another supper other than today. But you do know this today that Jesus Christ is offering you himself asking you to come away from the darkness into the light into his kingdom. He's saying to you what you are going to do this morning do quickly but I'm offering you myself in case you're interested and to push his hand away is to betray him. Let me pray for us. Father we marvel at the the coarseness of this story, the brazen way in which this man has acted and yet that's not the thing that we take away from it. We marvel at the tenderness and the mercy of Jesus Christ who even at the moment of his betrayal treats his loved one Judas with tenderness and mercy and with great respect. So you are treating us this morning inviting us into Christ inviting us to baptism and into the church, into your kingdom then inviting us to the Lord's Topper so that we might receive again this offer of grace that you have given to those who believe in you. Father we do fence this table and we ask those who are not in Christ and not baptized and not members of a church to refrain from coming to the table. Less they eat and drink judgment to themselves as the scripture says but we invite them to come to Christ and then to the church and finally to the Lord's Topper so that the next time we meet they are numbered among the fellowship of those who have been cleansed and brought to faith in Jesus Christ. Help us even in the moments that we sing to examine our hearts make this the day for many of us that we would turn from sin and turn to Christ and enter the kingdom of God and have the assurance of the beloved for the rest of our lives. For we ask this and pray this for our eternal good and for your glory but mainly because it's what Christ wants from us and so we ask this in his name amen.