Saved Through Betrayal

John 13:21-30

Pastor Jason Ray

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If you would this morning go ahead and turn with me to John chapter 13. Now we are in a unique spot in the letter of John in chapter 13 because what we're going to see here in this transition, there's a transition that's happening and that has happened for quite a while now. The hour is coming. And now the hour has come. And now we get to the point to where we see on Thursday of the Passover, we're going to see some events that happen for the next in our book, in John, for the next six to seven chapters that really happen in like a few hours. All right. So we're coming to Thursday, right? Jesus is crucified on a Friday. So there's a lot that's about to happen in the upper room. And so this is a unique chapter where Jesus has withdrawn from the crowds. He's withdrawn, withdrawn from the people, those who he was trying to reveal to himself as the Son of God. And now he moves to the upper room, and there's this transition to where Judas will betray him. He will betray him according to the scriptures. And then Jesus' focus is shift and it shifts to teaching his disciples. It shifts to this pouring out of his great love for them so that they will continue to bear witness of what he has done and what he will continue to do for the rest of time, right? Through Acts, we see this in the book of Acts as the apostles bring forth the word and the church as they establish it by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so there's this transition of the betrayal to Jesus moves to his disciples and then focuses on his mission at the cross. And so this is where we are this morning. Now, last week, Keith did a great job of teaching us about the servant leadership of Jesus in the midst of his betrayal. John gives us this beautiful picture of Jesus serving and loving both those who have been chosen and the one who was not. We see this in verse 18. Also, in verse 18 through 20, we realize quickly that the betrayal did not surprise Jesus. Jesus was not surprised by his betrayal. Now, before Jesus openly identifies the betrayer, he prepares his disciples to understand what is about to happen. Judas's betrayal will not mean that Jesus has lost control, right? He's not panicking and running around. He hasn't lost control. The scripture has not failed. And God's saving purpose has not been, it hasn't been disrupted. It hasn't been frustrated. It won't be prevented because of what is about to happen. And so Jesus says in verse 18, look at verse 18 with me just for a moment, and we'll get into our passage. But verse 18 says, I know whom I have chosen. And then he points to the fulfillment of the scripture. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. And in other words, the betrayal is it's wicked. It's personal. It's a personal attack on Jesus. And it's accountable yet, yet it was foreknown. We see this verse 18. It was foreknown, it was foretold. And it's governed by God's sovereign decree. God's in control. He's not caught off guard. And so in verse 30, verse 18 through 20, really, this teaches us three truths about the frame of the sermon that I'm about to preach. And so think about this verse in light of these three things. Christ sovereignly knows his own, right? Christ sovereignly knows his own. We see this in Ephesians. Paul talks about this in Ephesians 1, 3 through 6. He says, Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as he chose us in him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. In the beloved. And so God knew. God has not been thrown off. Now I know this idea of predestination scares some people, right? We automatically think about God and how maybe unloving he is because he predestined people to hell or whatnot. This is not what happened. Like we can't, we have to understand we can't be in the mind of an infinite God. We can't understand God. We're finite. But what God does is he looks down the corridor of time before the foundations of the world. Did you see that in Ephesians? It says before the foundations of the world even existed, before you were born, God has the ability to know what you will choose. He knows the responsibility to which you will cling to. Will you cling to the responsibility of God and his word or the things of the world? And he knows this. And he looks down at the time and he knows those who will choose him, and he knows the ones who will not. This is just God because He's all knowing. He's all things. And so we have to, we have to, we can't fully understand this, but we have to settle ourselves knowing that Scripture teaches this. We have to reconcile in our minds and our thoughts and our feelings and say, it's true because it's God's word and this is our authority. And so God sovereignly knows his own and he will use his own, and he is in control of them. And not only is he sovereignly in control and he knows them, scripture must be fulfilled. So here's the second thing that it must be fulfilled. And we see this in Luke chapter 24, verse 44. It says, Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while you were still, while I was still with you, that everything written about me, this is Jesus, everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. It must be fulfilled. God is a God who does not, who fulfills his promises. He doesn't go back on his word. And so when we see it in scripture, we know that it must be fulfilled. And the last thing we see here is that the apostles' witness remains Christ's accredited testimony. See this Acts 4, 33. I've already mentioned a little bit that Acts 4, 33 says this with great power the apostles were given their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There is a powerful testimony that happens within the church, the people of God. God has given us the privilege to be the witness of God to the world, that they may see his goodness in us by the way we handle certain situations, right? Through our character, through our integrity, through honor, through respect of others and love for God and love for others. There's so much that we as a church, when we come together, we reflect the goodness of God. And this is what the apostles did in the midst of great persecution, right? We don't understand this persecution. Not as great as it was, not here in America. But when they've gone against all that the Jewish people have believed in their entire lives, and now they push back and say, You've done it wrong. There's so much good in what you know, but you're pursuing it wrong. You find hope in the scriptures that you know it. And Christ has said, no, no, no, no. Your hope is not that you know the scripture, but the one who wrote the scripture, that it's that it's penetrating the heart now, that it's changing you from the inside out, not that you look good on the outside, because we all look good on the outside. And we'll see that as we move into this picture of Judas. And so the apostle's witness, it remains, it remains in the testimony of who Christ was, is, and will be to come. Now we read in verse 28 with me, in light of what we just understood, God's sovereignty, the fulfillment of scripture, and the accredited testimony of the apostles. Read it with me, 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 the bread has lifted the hill against me. This is Psalm 41. It's being fulfilled. He said, I am telling you this now, verse 19, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am He. And truly, truly I say to you, whoever receives the one I receive, uh receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. We are the messengers. We are the ones accredited with the testimony by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. Therefore, when the darkness of betrayal enters the room in verse 21 through 30, believers, the people of God, the church, we are not to see chaos. We don't see chaos, we don't see uh providence being defeated. But we see a pathway to redemption. We see the helpless victim being obedient to Jesus and moving as he moves towards the cross for God's glory and for our good. And so let me give you the theme as we move into our text this morning. The theme is this in the darkness, in the darkest betrayal known to man, Christ's purpose unfolds under the sovereign hand of God, fulfills the scripture, exposes the heart of sin, and magnifies the glory of the Savior who goes willingly to the cross for his people. This is our theme. And so, if you would, look at verse 21 with me as we move through this passage. Starting in 21, it reads like this 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 his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at the table at Jesus' side. So Simon Peter mentioned 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 dripp dripped it. When I have dipped it. So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, sin entered into him, Jesus said to him, What are you going to do? Do quickly. Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought, well, Judas, because he had the money bags, Jesus was telling him, Buy what we need for the feast, or that he should go give some to the poor. So after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out, and it was night. And so the first thing we see here in verse 31 is Christ is deeply troubled yet perfectly sovereign. He's deeply troubled, yet he's perfectly sovereign. The eternal Son of God is not emotionally detached from human sorrow. This is the beauty. This is the beauty of the incarnation. This is why God came in flesh and blood. This is why he came through Mary, but by the seed of God, right? That he could understand our sufferings, he could understand our pain and our trouble, yet he was still fully and divinely God. He is deity. And so we see this. It says he is troubled, and in his true humanity, he feels the horror of the betrayal, the grief of rejecting his love, the one he loved. And then the approaching weight of the cross. So this is the same word. I don't know if you remember, it's the same word we used that he used when he talks of Lazarus, his beloved friend, the one who died. He he emotionally experienced the grief and the pain and sorrow that we do in his humanity. And so we see this word. It's a beautiful picture of this inner toiling, right? Of this unsettled spirit because he knows what is coming and he has a deep, deep care for Judas. Judas walked with him for three years, right? He cares for Judah, yeah, for Judas, yet it says his trouble, his soul is troubled, yet he did not panic. He doesn't panic. He's not stumbling through worry and anxiety like we do, right? If we're all confessing things, right? We do that time and time again. We didn't do it perfectly. He did it perfectly. But we stumbled through these things. Instead, he testifies of the divine certainty. He says this truly, truly, in verse 20, when I say to you, one of you will betray me. This is the third time in chapter 13. He said it in verse 10, he says it in verse 18, and he says it again. He speaks about this betrayal that's about to happen. And so this would certainly explain why he became troubled. He knows what's about to happen. And so he's about to identify, specifically identify his betrayer here in the upper room amongst the twelve. And so, although Jesus was in control of the situation, I believe John wants us to see his humanity. He wants us to see that it is troubled because of what he had just said, and in view of what he's about to experience. And so, by saying that one of you will betray me, Jesus, he shows that he is still fully in control, right? This is what it's saying. He's saying, even though I'm troubled, I know who's going to betray me. I'm still in control. I'm still the Son of God who is fully God and fully man. And so in one verse, we see this. We see the true picture of the fullness of the incarnation. It's right here in verse 21. And so Jesus is troubled. He's troubled here after Judas departs. And then in chapter 14, what does he do in chapter 14? We'll get there soon. But in chapter 14, he immediately starts to encourage the disciples. He's encouraging them. Matter of fact, it's a this word for encouragement is a demand, right? He's demanding them, he's commanding them to what? In verse 1 of 14, he says, Do not let your heart be troubled. Don't let it be troubled. He knows that it can be troubled, because we're human. But he's saying, Don't let it be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. And then he goes on to encouragement. Verse 27 says, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. I am in control. I am sovereign over all things. And so we have a Savior that understands the wrestle with sin and suffering while remaining perfect. He wrestled with it, but he remained perfect. What an encouragement for us to fix our eyes upon him, upon the one who is perfect, that we may gaze upon him and that we may learn how to fight through the fear and anxiety and the worries that come in this broken world. And so, where does your help come from is the question. To whom or to what are you looking for to be comforted in this world? I pray as the people who sung as they ascended the hill in the Psalms, as we see the Psalms, as they are ascending to the hill of Jerusalem, as they're headed towards the Passover, to the presence of God, to worship God, I hope that our heart sings like the Psalm in 121. It says, I lift my eyes to the heel. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, whom have made the heavens and the earth. He will not let my foot be moved. He will keep you. Oh, he will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on the right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. I hope you heard the word that was repeated in that psalm. It was keep. The Lord will keep you. He will keep you. This is a promise to those who love him, to those who who long for the presence of God in their life. It may not be in the way you think, but he will keep you. Praise God. Christ, here's the truth: Christ possesses a true human nature and a sovereign divine knowledge. He is troubled in spirit, yet never uncertained in his purpose. What a beautiful doctrine, a beautiful truth of who Christ is. And so God's decree does not remove the reality of suffering for us, right? This is what I mean. Even though he's going to keep you, that doesn't mean suffering and pain in this life won't come. Matter of fact, it's almost promised that it will come. If you live apart or different from the world, the world will persecute you. Suffering will come. And so God's the reality here is just because he loves you and keeps you, it's not that suffering will be removed. We're not preaching this prosperity gospel. And so God instead will use this evil for good. He ordains the sinful actions of men without himself being the author of sin. This is what we have to understand, right? He ordains it, but he's not the author of it. It's a beautiful picture of how God works in and out of our lives in the midst of sinful men. And so, believers, you can bring your grief to a Savior who truly understands your sorrows. This is a beautiful picture. He truly understands the sorrows, and so we can bring them to him. The one who rules over all sorrows and over his people. Second thing we see here as we move into verse 22 is that the disciples are exposed to self or to holy self-examination. Now, this is probably the toughest part of scripture for all of us. When we hear that word self-examination, we're kind of like, well, hold up now. Hold up. We always want to talk about the heart. Always want to talk about the heart, but are we really evaluating the heart? And here we go, verse 22. The disciples look at one another, uncertain of whom Jesus speaks. They're confused, right? There's confusion here and there's a significant why is it significant? Well, Jesus, Judas had lived so, listen to this, he listened, he lived so convincingly amongst the disciples. They didn't even question it. They didn't even question. In this picture, in the picture of scripture, none of them start going, I think it's him or him or him. They're not questioning anything. He lived so convincingly among them, they did not even expect him. They didn't suspect him at all. The betrayer, the one who he wasn't an outsider throwing stones at the church, right? He's an insider. He's in the midst of them. He's seated at the table among the disciples, sharing the outward privileges of the covenant fellowship. And so we see in in verse 23, I love Peter, right? Verse 23 through 25, Peter's like, he like, I want to know who this is, right? He's like, so he leans over, it says, verse 22, the one who's who's reclining at the table, the one leaning on Jesus' breast or bosom, it says, is John. It's John the beloved who's writing to us. He leans over to him and he says, Hey man, ask the Lord who is it? Like he wants to know. He wants to know. And the reality is that there's so many people that have infiltrated the church. That have infiltrated the church from the very beginning because of what? Well, because of the initial, the initial draw to the Christian life. No one would say they don't want the Christian life. No one would say, well, I don't want true hope, peace, love, joy. Like these are things that the world longs for. They long for hope. They look for hope in so many different ways. They try to find peace in so many different ways and true love and joy in so many different ways. They long for so the initial draw of what Jesus offers, everyone wants it. Everyone wants it. And so they're going to be drawn to it. We see this in Matthew chapter 5, but those who are truly drawn to it are these, right? These are the ones. Matthew 5, 11. I love what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. He says, Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. And then here's the transition. Here's the beautiful picture. Verse 12, he says this, Rejoice and be glad. How many of us rejoice and be glad? How many of us rejoice in the midst of persecution? Why do we rejoice? Because look what it says. God will bless you on earth. I'm not saying that. But our reward, our focus is in heaven. Great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecute you. They persecuted the prophets who walked before you. You will be persecuted. But there's a beautiful thing about this persecution. It's building something great in you. And it's the glory of God. It's the glory of God. And so the one who is able to fix all things which is broken in us, he's the one to whom we look to experience the true joy, the true peace, true love. And the result of that is hatred from the world. It's hatred from The world is persecution. And so here's the truth: there's a visible church, and there's an invisible church. Not all who outwardly belong to the covenant people, the covenant members, the church, not all who belong are inwardly united to Christ by saving faith. That means there's people in the midst of the church who proclaim it, profess it, who try to come to every event, try to check off the card. But they don't truly believe. They're trying to feel good about themselves. They're trying to feel morally good. They want others to perceive them as good. And so they come and they come into the church. And this is the truth. We see it here with Judas. And so the nearness, here's the warning: the nearness to holy things is not the same as regeneration. Just because you're participating doesn't mean you've been regenerated, right? Judas heard Christ. He walked with Christ, he ate with Christ. His heart remained enslaved to sin. There was something greater he was hoping for. The expectation of Christ was for power or glory, right? He was thinking, man, we're gonna, this guy's gonna come and be the conquering king and overthrow Rome, and we're gonna have all the things that we had before. It was all about Judas and what he could obtain. It wasn't about Christ. And so he wanted the temporal blessings of this life. He wasn't looking for that which was to come. He wasn't looking for the great reward in heaven. His eyes were focused on the things now. What can I do now to enjoy this life? And so there's a warning here. There's a warning here. Don't draw near to the things that are holy, but draw near to the one who is holy. It's a beautiful picture. And so this passage calls the church to a sober self-examination. Right? Let's get honest. Let's just not say it. We've said it time and time again. Oh, it's all about the heart. It's the heart motive. I want you to get real honest about your heart and the motives. That's the hard place to get. It's easy to check off the box. It's easy to say, well, that's not my true heart motive. God knows your motive. And so we must have this self-examination that really pushes into the heart of the issue. Do I merely possess religious association or have I been brought by grace to true repentance and faith in Christ? Do I desire God more than I desire the things of this world? And then we come to verse 26. And Jesus, in the midst of this betrayal, in the midst of this pushing into Judas, I love what Christ says here. Christ extends kindness even to his betrayer. He extends kindness. Verse 26. So he says here, Jesus answered, It is he who I will give the morsel of bread when I have dipped it. So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. And so Jesus identifies Judas by giving him the morsel of bread. Now, in the setting of the meal, let's just set this real quick. Like this is an act of significant honor and favor. And Judas would have known this, right? Judas would have known this. And so the tragedy is that even when Jesus extends the hand of grace and mercy and love towards Judas, he extends this to him. Judas's heart still clings to betrayal. It still clings to betrayal. And so Jesus fully knows Judas' sin, right? He's sovereign. We've seen this in verse 21. Yet Jesus himself, he responds without pettiness, without cruelty, without vengeance. He's not mad at Judas. Instead, he has kindness. We see the kindness of Christ in this stark contrast between the hardness of sin and Judas's life. There's a stark contrast here. And so now I think it's important for us to note that Judas would have been near Jesus. Okay? He would have been near Jesus during the Last Supper because Jesus was at the table. I'm sorry, because Jesus was able to hand him the morsel of bread, right? This is what's going on here. Now, this isn't what we think of when we look at the Lord's Supper, the Last Supper. It's not this, you know, panoramic view of this long table, and everybody's sitting there and they're like, hey, waitress, can you take a picture of us? And we're all like, boom, and we got this picture. This is not what's going on here, right? This is more kind of an intimate setting of a circle, kind of lounge sitting at the table. Uh, we see one laid back on Jesus' breast or bosom. And so we see this happening. This is what's really going on happening. Now, this is significant because we'll see in verse, we'll see this in verse 28 why this is significant. Now, I won't get there yet, but when we get there, you're going to realize why this is important, why we see this picture of the nearness of Judas to Jesus. Okay? So just keep that in mind until we work to verse 28. Now, here in this setting, the upper room, the place of honor was to the left. This is where Judas was. And we're like, well, what is the place of honor? Well, it would have been to the left of Jesus, but slightly behind Jesus. Now, why is Judas being honored? Well, he was the treasurer, if you will. He was the one who had the money bags. And so he was in a place of honor. He would have sat to the left and a little bit behind Jesus. Now, the second place we see is to the right would be for his other guest or friends or loved ones, which we see John, he's leaning on the breast or the bosom of Jesus. And so we plainly see this disposition to the right occupied by John. So John's leaning there, he's reclined there, and he would have been just to the right. And so he dips the morsel and he hands it to Judas, who is to his left, which signifies the love he has towards what? His enemies. God loves his enemies. He loves his enemies. The world doesn't teach us that. The world teaches us to hate our enemies. Jesus is showing his kindness here. And so one commentary kind of helps us paint this picture. He says this it says, to give the dipped morsel on such an occasion was the equivalent of serving the choicest piece of steak at the banquet. Judas knew the significance of Jesus' action, but Judas received the morsel in a formal courtesy with an unrepentant soul. And so what he's doing here, he's building upon what he did by the washing of the feet. I don't know if you remember, when he washed the feet, he said, Not all of you are clean. I don't know if you remember that, but this is what he's saying. So he's building upon that. So we have this picture of Jesus symbolically saying, from the washing of the feet to the handing of the brain, he's saying this, let me wash this evil from your mind, from your heart. You have been one of my disciples, and I love you in spite of your plans. I know about them, and I understand them, for I too know what it is like to be tempted. And he says, This, our fellowship has been good. This needs not be the end. Will you not begin to resist the thought of betrayal before it becomes too strong for you? Now, this is a paraphrase, but this is what the author is trying. He's trying to portray. He's trying to paint this picture of what's going on here in this intimate setting in the upper room with the disciples and with their master, Jesus. And yet, Judas, the traitor, he rejects this final act of love from Jesus. The final act. Here's the breath. Take it. Not just physically, but take it spiritually, be healed. But knowing this, Judas' heart is hardened, he rejects this love and he moves on. So the truth is the outward kindness of Christ increased the guilt of those who reject him. We see this, right? We heard it all the time. Like, kill him with kindness, kill them with kindness. You know those people, right? That you've just been kind to, hopefully with the right heart. You're being kind to him, you're trying to be gracious and merciful, and they just keep getting madder at you. They just keep getting frustrated. Like, how can this guy keep being kind to me, knowing what I'm gonna do to him, right? Or what I have done to him. And so we see this this increase of guilt to those who reject him, those who share in the common grace and the common fellowship, those within the church that are in here that aren't really believers, like at some point their heart will be revealed. And so, like Judas, you and I are not puppets. We're not puppets. His betrayal fulfills scripture, yet he acted willingly from a sinful heart. He acted willingly from a sinful heart. So do not presume upon religious privileges. The kindness of Christ should lead sinners to repentance, not to harden our heart, but to see his gracious and meaning. I come to a place where I laid down lesser things for greater gain.

unknown 30:48

Right?

SPEAKER_00 30:49

That's the place to where my heart comes. I'm laying down these lesser things for a greater gain because Christ is alive. This is a beautiful picture of that. The kindness of God that He laid down his life that I might be able to live in Him. Otherwise, I am dead in my sin. And then part four, verse 27. It says, Satanic darkness works through a willing heart. Satanic darkness works through a willing heart. Verse 27a, the first part of it says, Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Why would the morsel be critical? To offer the bread right to the guest, this is a mark of great honor, right? We went through this. We see this picture of great honor. Jesus' final appeal, hey, repent, Judas. I love you, repent. Judas doesn't. He clearly refuses here. Even though he ate, physically ate, he did not spiritually receive the gift that God was trying to give to him, that Christ was trying to give to him, that he would be saved from eternal punishment. So Judas's sins, not merely this social betrayal, it's a spiritual rebellion. It's a spiritual rebellion against God. But Satan's activity does not cancel Judas's responsibility. You understand that? I hope we all understand that. Satan's activity does not cancel out Judas's or our responsibility to be faithful to Scripture. This scripture right here, this passage presents both realities together. Satan is active, he's active in the world, yet Judas is guilty. The devil tempts, deceives, and destroys, but Judas goes willingly into the darkness he has chosen. Satan is not omnipresent like God. I want you to know that. He is not omnipresent God. For believers, God lives in you and you have access to him 24-7. The Spirit of God lives in you and you have access. Satan does not have access to you 24-7. He does not. He does not. And we see this in this picture of the victory that we have over Satan because of God's omnipresence. We see it in Galatians 5.16. It says, But I say to you, walk by the Spirit. He's commanding the walk by the Spirit because he knows the Spirit lives in them. He says, Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposite of each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. Therefore, he has set before mankind, Satan, little trinkets, right? Little trinkets in front of us to draw our attention away from the things of God. They are the unseen battles for our soul, right? The things, the lust of the world, the things you lust for, crave, the things you want. Satan does not have to drag you to hell. He just has to distract you long enough that the lustful things of this world cause you to miss Christ. It's not his job. He can't do it, matter of fact. He has no power over you. He just tries to influence the world in a way that distracts you. And so he's used many things, many things in our world to do that. So Satan, it says, enters into Judas. What does this mean? This explains that Jesus, that Judas, sorry, yielding to self-impulse, opened the way to Satan's control. He allowed him to control him because he allowed his influence. And so in this act, he gave power to the evil one. He gave it over. And so this is what happens to us when we continue to soften our hearts towards the sins of the world. Our hearts become hardened towards the things of God and sulfur towards the things of the world. We start accepting sin. We see it in the church. We're battling over issues that we shouldn't even battle, issues that are clear within the church. Women pastors, things like this, these things that we're battling over. It's Satan trying to slowly put influence in the church, however, he can. And so spiritual warfare is real. It's real. But sin is never the excuse, is never excused by Satan's influence. We can't use that excuse because he doesn't live within us. As believers, we have access to the Spirit if we walk in the Spirit, remain in the Spirit. We can't say Satan made me do that. Oh, he didn't. He may have influence, but you're all, you're responsible for your actions. Human beings, we remain morally accountable before God. We have a responsibility to flee from sin. It says it in Scripture. Sin has no power over creation, just an influence. And he's trying to distract us. And so non-believers, he's trying to distract us from what? Salvation. Those who don't believe, he's trying to distract them that they may not see Christ as a savior, as a redeemer. He's doing all that he can to distract them. For the believer, he's doing it to disrupt our witness. To say, look at them, they're hypocrites. They don't truly love God. They don't truly love people. They're self-centered. And so we see this. So guard your heart because hidden sin hardens unbelief. And greed can lead the soul into deeper darkness. When we come to the next part of verse 27, the betrayal moves, the betrayal moves forward under Christ's command. So God is still in control. Christ is still sovereign, yet it's moving forward. And Jesus says this, he says, what you do, he says in verse 28, what you're going to do, do quickly. This is not submission of defeat, right? He's not like, I'm giving up. Just go ahead and do it, what you're doing. No, no, no, no. He's commanding it. Our sovereign king is commanding it. He's moving it forward. In verse 28 and 29, we see the confusion of the disciples, and this is why we noted earlier that the seating arrangements in the upper room were important and they need further explanation. And so we see here the seating arrangements of the disciples explain why only John and Judas knew what was going on. Why were they confused? Well, there was only two people in the room that really knew what was going on, the one to his right and the one to his left. The one he reaches back and gives the morsel to, the one who leans in and he shares with him the information that he didn't share back with Peter at this point. And so there's only two people in the room that really know what's going on. And so we see this happening. And then we get to verse 28. After Jesus commands Judas to go, in verse 29, we see the confusion, right? They're like, well, wait, wait, where's he going? Right? They didn't hear the conversation. So maybe, maybe because he's the money man, right? Jesus said, Hey, go get some more food or bread or whatever. Maybe he's sending him on a on a on a chore to get some more food, or, or maybe he's telling him, Hey, go feed the poor, right? This we see here and here. He's got the money bags. Maybe that's what's going on. So Judas meant what he meant or intended for evil in this situation as he gets up and leaves, as he's going and he knows what's happening. What he intended for evil, God used it to direct the hour that was coming, right? He's using this to move once again towards the cross. Listen, church, the cross was not forced on God. It was not forced upon God. This didn't come up, and then all of a sudden he's like, okay, well, maybe we need to, you know, crucify Jesus and settle this. No, no, no, no. He knew what was going on. Jesus willingly goes to the cross as a sacrificial lamb, appointed before, what'd we read? The foundations of the world. Before the foundations of the world, Jesus was appointed to do this act. And so God's providence governs all events. God's providence, it guards, it governs all the events, including the sinful actions of wicked men, to accomplish his holy purpose. We see this in Genesis 50, 20. It says this, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. God will use the sinful ugliness of this world to still bring glory to his name. So Jesus is not trapped in this betrayal. He's pushing towards the cross. And so when providence, when God's will for his glory and our good is dark and confusing, will we as believers, will we see these circumstances through the character of Christ and through the promises of Scripture? Or will we look to ourselves? I pray we look to this cross. I pray we look to the character of Christ and the promises that we have in Scripture. And then we come to verse 30, and he ends. Judas goes out into the night, verse 30. And so it says, so, which is the term of conclusion. Judas was past the point of no return, past the point of repentance, his course, his destiny, it's sealed. And so John closes the scene with an overwhelming simplicity, right? Like it's just it's so simple. He says, and it was night. And this was more than than just a timestamp for him. Like he said, it was night. And he gives us this spiritual picture. He gives a spiritual picture of leaving, Judas is leaving the presence of light. He's leaving Jesus into the darkness. He's rejecting all that Christ has been to him and all that he would have ever been to him as the light. And he's moving into this picture of spiritual darkness. One that in this same night, he would go, he would bring the money back, and then he would kill himself. This is all happening in the same night. This deep regret of Judas, the betrayer. And so we see this. We see the grip of sin and how powerful it is that even though we're we feel near to the light, even though we come and do the activities of the church and the and the things of God, we can easily be pulled from the darkness if we're not attached to the light, if the light hasn't consumed us. And so it's not about the activities that we do, but it's about the one that we love and we trust. And so final unbelief is a fearful judgment. To reject the light is to always remain in darkness. And so here's the warning: is it possible to be near Christ outwardly and yet depart from him inwardly? And that answer is yes, it is. And so the same Christ betrayed by Judas goes to the cross and he saves sinners who have betrayed God in thought, in word, and in deed. I want to give you the main idea as we close out. Here's the main idea, and it's longer than I normally do, but I just couldn't fit. I don't know, I just couldn't fit it all together. So this is it. It's kind of a three-part thing here. Because Christ sovereignly rules over betrayal, because he rules over betrayal, his people can trust him in the darkest providence. You can trust him. When you seem like life is hard and impossible and you can't fully understand in your mind or reconcile your circumstances. Trust Christ. If you've given your life, if you've truly trusted in him as Savior, if you've come to the faith and the realization that Christ is supreme, that he's Lord of your life, trust him for these dark hours are building into you a Christ's lightness that you need. And so we people, his people, can trust him in the darkest problem. Not only that, his people must examine their own hearts with holy seriousness. This is a serious thing. Where is my heart? Where does it lie? And don't just use the excuse, but truly evaluate one's heart. And then last, his people can find rest in the Savior who was betrayed in order to redeem traitors by grace. We can rest in his sovereign hand that he is in control, no matter what the world may try to do. God is not caught off guard. And so as the band comes back up, the betrayal of Jesus reveals the darkness of sin, but it also reveals the greater glory of Christ. What it does. It's a dark picture of someone who was so near to Christ, yet hated him so much that he betrayed him. And yet it's a great picture of the love of Christ. It's this great picture of the glory of God fulfilled in his son and the Son of God. And so Jesus is not troubled. I'm sorry, Jesus is troubled, but he's not overcome. He's betrayed, but he's not defeated. He's handed over by wicked men. Yet he gives himself according to God's sovereign will. The treason of Judas becomes one step on the road to Calvary where Christ will bear the curse for his people, secure their redemption, and bring glory to God. Therefore, let us, let us, the church, tremble at the deceitfulness of sin. Let us examine the reality of faith and let us rejoice that salvation rests not in the strength of us, not in the strength of the disciples, but in the sovereign mercy of Christ. He was betrayed so that traitors might be forgiven. He entered the night of judgment so that the people might walk forever in the light of grace. Here's five things, and then I'm going to pray. Five applications I want to give you. Trust Christ's sovereignty, examine your heart, flee from sin, rest in the gospel, and walk in the light. Let me pray. Father, thank you for your son. Thank you that you have given us a wonderful picture of God's humanity, that he can reason with us, that he can understand our position. Yet he did it perfectly. Father, thank you for this picture in the midst of the sinfulness that was occurring in the upper room. This darkness that could have been so dark that God himself was still in control. And though his humanity was troubled, he understood the mission, he understood the purpose and continued to move forward to the cross. Father, thank you that Jesus was obedient to the cross. Thank you that this act of betrayal saved us. It saves us, it pushes us towards the fulfillment of Scripture, it pushes us towards the atonement, that we might be the people of God. Thank you, Father, for how you work sovereignly in the midst of all things, even when we can't understand it. Father, we pray for strength that we continue to keep our eyes fixed on the one who is able to keep us. Father, search our hearts and know us. That we may be children that delight in who you are and share your goodness to the world. Love you and thank you.

unknown 47:18

Amen.