Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Amen. Why don't we stand this morning? Stand together, and, you know, we've had an interesting season in the life of our church, and we can really get focused in on the challenges. How many know that's true in life when you're experiencing a lot of crisis and difficulty? But I also want to share a thought with you that one of the mistakes we make is when we only focus in on the problems. We got to lift our eyes a little higher, folks. We got to focus in on what Jesus has called us to do this morning. I want us to pray. You know, a number of years ago, I was sharing this with the guys. Earlier, I took a course by Kenneth Gangl, by correspondence on management. He said, there's only two management styles, management by objective and crisis management. And I think some people, that's where they live all the time. They're in crisis management mode. Well, I'm going to say something to you. We're always going to have trouble in this world. That's just a normal scenario. But Jesus actually gives us a management by objective style. He says, listen, I've got a mission for the church, and don't lose sight of it. And I think the enemy many times comes along and tries to create diversions and difficulties. And, yes, we have to address those things, but let's pray today. There is a lot of joyous things happening in our church in the midst of sorrow and difficulty. You know, I was just looking the other day. We've had 30 people baptized in water within the last three months.
[00:01:24] That's pretty exciting. Amen. And also, there's a lot of nice young couples getting married here this summer, and we're excited about that. And there's babies being born, and new people are coming into God's kingdom, and there's a lot of wonderful things happening. And so let's lift up our eyes. Maybe you're in the storm right now. Maybe you feel like the winds and the waves are blowing, but I believe we can walk on water if we'll just keep our eyes on Jesus. How's that? So, father, we do come before you this morning with gratitude and Thanksgiving. You're such an amazingly grateful father, and you do all things well. And so this morning, I pray as we go into your word, Father, we're going to look at one of the most challenging moments in your earthly life, Jesus, but one in which you actually challenge your followers first followers to keep their eye on the mission. And we need to hear that message as well, Lord. And we need to know that you've called us to something far greater than ourselves, and you've given us an amazing commandment. We're going to look at that today. A new commandment I give you. And Lord, we want to embrace in obedience what you're calling us to because we know that even though there are trials and there's opposition and there's difficulty and trouble, Lord, we want our eyes to look further beyond that, to see that you're in control of our world and that our hope is in you and that you're going to bring us through to the end because you're a faithful God. And we thank you for that in Jesus name. And God's people said, amen. Amen. You may be seated. We're going to turn again to the Gospel of John. I'm continuing in the series. In John's gospel, chapter 13, we look at verses 18 all the way down to the end of the chapter. And this morning we're looking at how to handle some of the most painful relational experiences in life. And Jesus knows all about it because he lived through it himself. And I think we can learn from our pattern. Jesus is the pattern for our lives. And I think one of the most painful experiences in life is actually to be betrayed by someone close to you. That is a very devastating experience. And what's interesting is that Jesus knew all along where Judas was coming from. This was not a shock to Jesus. It was a shock to all the other disciples. They had no idea. They just thought he was one of the guys. But as Jesus is going to point out, that's not truly the case. So the question I always ask is, why did Jesus keep Judas on as one of the twelve, knowing he knew that the treasurer was actually stealing from the treasury? Isn't that an interesting question?
[00:04:04] And also, he knew that he was going to betray him. And he knew that he was a person that was not on his team. I mean, he was there, but he wasn't there. You know what I mean? He was part of things, but he wasn't a part of things. And Jesus knew this. Now, first of all, I think a couple things come to my mind. First, we see Jesus showing us the depth of his concern for humanity. I think that's a lesson we learn here by constantly reaching out to even those who were his enemies. Someone once said, you know, you have to have friends close by, but keep your enemies even closer. I mean, Jesus had his closest enemy right next to him. We're going to find that out in the story. Judas was not Jesus friend. He was actually his enemy.
[00:04:52] And then we see that Judas was one of the closest followers. Jesus had selected him because the father had said, this is the guy. You need him on the team. The other thing we realize is that Jesus was concerned about fulfilling the word of God. Jesus knew the scriptures. He knew that he was going to be betrayed, and he knew that this would bring ultimate glory to goddess. So it's not that Jesus is trying to get out of every difficult situation in life, because he certainly didn't do that. We know that's true. He chose to go to the cross. So, being obedient to these two concerns, Judas is allowed to be a part of Jesus leadership team.
[00:05:32] And we know from the biblical text that this is exactly what would happen. As a matter of fact, Jesus is actually fulfilling, and Judas is fulfilling these texts right here. Psalm 41 nine. It says, even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who has shared my bread, has turned against me. You know, some translations, it reads, he has lifted up his heel against me. And actually, that's actually, if you want to be technical, that's actually a better translation of that text because that's literally what is being said there. But for us to understand, this is a betrayal.
[00:06:14] Gerald Bouchard, he explains this term, and it's cultural nuance. He says it this way to lift up the heel. Therefore, in a culture where displaying the bottom of the foot has been regarded as a breach of honor, especially after one has enjoyed acceptance at the meal. So if you're in a middle eastern culture, you don't lift your feet up. You keep them on the ground, keep them on the floor. So, you know, that's a cultural thing because you're sending a message. It's nuanced. You're saying, you know, I have no respect for you. You know, I'm not honoring you.
[00:06:49] As a matter of fact, it's the epitome of shaming the host and the equivalent to being a traitorous scoundrel after the manner of Ahithophel and his betrayal of David. Now, some of you might know that story was actually betrayed by his own son. But really, the person that was the problem to David was Ahithophel, because in that hour, Ahithophel was David's most trusted counselor. Everything he said, it was almost as if he was speaking on God's behalf. And when David was fleeing from Absalom, he prayed this prayer, said, God confused the counsel of Ahithophel. David was more concerned about that individual than anybody else because he knew the kind of understanding that he had a. And that he knew that if they listened to his counsel, David was doomed. And so he prayed that God would overturn his counsel. And God heard that prayer, and he did.
[00:07:38] Though David is the one that's writing psalm 41 nine, I believe there's an even greater prophetic significance. Something was going to happen in the future where the greater son of David, Jesus Christ himself, would be betrayed by one of his close followers. And this is the story we're going to look at today. Judas, think about what Warren Worsby says. Think about the amazing moral responsibility of Judas and light of everything he had experienced. He was exposed to the same spiritual privileges as the other disciples, yet they did him no good.
[00:08:14] The same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay. Isn't that interesting? So the same experience is happening one person and another person, one person. It's having this impact on him. The other person is having the direct opposite experience. Judas is hardening his heart as he's watching Jesus teach. He's watching Jesus do these miracles. I mean, how many think it's kind of amazing that Judas could be with Jesus seeing the things he saw and betray Jesus? Isn't that kind of a little bit of shock to you?
[00:08:46] In spite of all that our Lord said about money, about his warning against covetousness, Judas continued to be a thief. He was stealing from the treasury. In spite of all of the Lord's warning about unbelief, Judas persisted in his rejection. Jesus even washed Judas feet, yet his hard heart did not yield. Jesus had spoken before about a traitor, but the disciples did not take that message to heart. You know, a lot of times we're not picking up what Jesus is laying down. How many say that's probably true? You know, when you're reading the Bible, you're not picking up everything. You're not getting the whole element of what's being said. A lot of times we're missing things. And it was certainly true of the disciples. Jesus said a lot of things, and they just didn't clue in. You know, actually, sometimes I'm reading in the gospel of Mark, especially in that gospel, Jesus finally says, man, you guys are slow.
[00:09:39] You guys are really dull. You're not getting this. What are you talking about? He has to keep repeating himself to them. But not only was Judas not taking things to heart, like warnings and responding and repentance, but his disciples, the rest of them, were not understanding that Jesus was going to actually have to suffer and die and be betrayed. They didn't get that messaging at all. They were so locked into their paradigm of the Messiah coming and creating a new Israel and getting rid of the Romans. That's all. All they could focus on. You know, I'm gonna just warn us. We have to be careful we don't get so locked into a certain point of view and think this is absolutely the way it's gonna happen. Because what happens is often in our christian life, God does something that's a little different than we think, and it shatters us. We go, what happened? God's supposed to do this. Why is he doing that? No, I think we have to be a little bit more humble and say, you know, God may do things we don't fully understand.
[00:10:38] You know, just when you think you understand who God is, he throws you a curveball.
[00:10:42] You know what I mean by that? You know, like job. I mean, Job was doing everything right, and all of a sudden, his life fell apart. And he goes, what's going on here? And, you know, the theology that Job's friends had, I believe, was the same theology job had, except for job goes, it's not working.
[00:10:57] So something's going on here. I know I haven't done anything wrong, and why is God doing this? And so it was messing with him. He was upset with God. And in the end, his big demand was that God would have to answer to job. How many know? God doesn't have to answer to us?
[00:11:11] And eventually God showed up. God's presence came into job's life, and God says, I'll tell you what I'm doing. When you can answer these questions, you're going to answer to me. Job. Job says, boy, am I ever dumb.
[00:11:25] I am not going to say another word. You are God, right?
[00:11:30] So let's take a look at how Jesus handled the betrayal. We're going to look at the denial stories. How do you handle these highly painful, emotionally charged situations? And I'm going to look at the first one. We're going to look at two. First of all, the issue of betrayal. We know that Jesus mood was one of distress. He knew that one of them was going to betray him. It was happening soon. And how many know that love, when it's spurned and rejected, is always painful? Jesus knew that Judas had never been a true follower. And now the moment of decision had come. Jesus had given him every opportunity to change his mind and follow him. And we're going to see, right till the very end, Jesus is still giving him an opportunity, even at that last meal. He's offering him an opportunity to repent. And Judas, you know what? Is not going to do it. Actually, what's going to happen is he's going to be exposed. His direction of life is now going to be exposed. And if we choose the wrong thing long enough, God will finally say, fine, go your way. Do what you're going to do. And that's exactly what Jesus says. He says, he starts out here in verse 18. I'm not referring to all of you. I know those I've chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of scripture. He who shared my bread has turned against me or lifted up his heel against me. I'm telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe that I am who I am. I'll come back to that statement in a minute. Even in this pronouncement of betrayal, Jesus explains the power and significance of acceptance. In verse 20, he says, very truly, I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me. And whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me. So in other words, Jesus is talking here about being sent. He's talking about the mission. He's talking about the fact that the father sent him to earth to do a mission. And now Jesus is sending these disciples to do a mission. Now, how many think this is fascinating in light of the fact that Jesus is trying to prepare these people, his followers, for his upcoming death? But he's also talking to them about mission. And I think it's interesting that Jesus is really reminding them of the mission that they've been called to, the opposition they can anticipate.
[00:13:52] We have to understand something. As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we've all been given a mission by God. How many know that's true? We're to go make disciples, and there's going to be opposition. And the more you start becoming effective at doing that, the more opposition you'll run into. And that's why a lot of people, they go, I don't want to do that because I don't want the opposition. But then that's disobedience, and that's a lesser life than what God has intended for you. You and I have a task to do in the, in the, in spite of all of the things that are happening around us. God says, no, but I've given you a mission. And I think too many of us, we allow all these other things to distract us from the mission. And we need to hear these words. These are very important words, and it'll keep us out of trouble, too. If you're busy engaged in the mission, you don't get in this much trouble. You know, somebody says to me, pastor, are you getting in any trouble? I said, I don't have time. I'm too busy to get in trouble. I'm on a mission, you know, now I have my other issues. I got this opposition and all these other things that happen and, you know, spiritual opposition, all the rest of that. But I'm going, that's normal stuff. That's the way I expect that.
[00:14:55] Now, Bruce Melm explains that Jesus is trying to convey more than just preparation for his departure, which he's also doing. He said the analogy is that of a commanding officer giving his troops final instructions and encouragement on the eve of the most dangerous mission in which he himself is leading them. And so I want you to think of it this way. Jesus is now ready to go into battle, and he knows that his life will be given up for them, but he wants them to continue to persevere and follow through on the mission. Are you getting a picture of that? How many know these guys are going to have a problem in a minute? Because when Jesus goes down, they're all going to scatter.
[00:15:35] Isn't that true? We know the story, John 1321. And after you had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified very truly. I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.
[00:15:48] RV Tasker says Jesus therefore decides to break the unwelcome news that a traitor is at that moment eating bread with them. So now here we are about to go on this major mission. You got somebody in your ranks that's not on the team, they're actually going to betray your mission. I'm going to go. That's pretty serious stuff. Do you know, if these guys would have found this out, they probably wouldn't have been treating Judas very nicely, I'm telling you. Yeah?
[00:16:14] How do you know that, pastor? Well, I saw what Peter did in the garden of the high priest's servant's ear.
[00:16:20] I just think he missed his head, that's why he just got his ear. These guys were.
[00:16:25] They were going to take whoever. Whoever they felt was part of the opposition. They just take them out. Thought nothing of it.
[00:16:31] So two purposes are served here. By letting them know. First, Judas is given the opportunity to withdraw from the fellowship of the children of light and enter into the realm of darkness to which he belongs. In other words, he's getting him to leave this company before Jesus goes on and gives them any more information. The second thing is the further evidence of Jesus foreknowledge, which would be available when his prophetic words about the traitor had been proven true. This would now strengthen the faith of the other people.
[00:17:03] Jesus now announces announcement of the betrayal as a sign really of his true nature. Remember I talked to you about that verse earlier?
[00:17:14] Jesus tells the disciples ahead of time that he will be betrayed so that they will believe that he is the great I am.
[00:17:23] Notice that expression at the end of verse 19. You believe so that Jesus says, I'm telling you this now so that you will believe I am who I am. Anybody? Is there any sort of notes being struck here?
[00:17:38] This is a very powerful expression. This is the very words that God spoke to Moses at the burning bush. When Moses said, who are you? And God said, I am who I am, what is Jesus saying? I am who I am. Jesus is actually declaring that he's God to his followers.
[00:18:02] That's a very clear statement. And in John's gospel, you have many I am statements in the gospel to show us that Jesus is more than just a human being. He's actually God who became flesh.
[00:18:17] When we consider what had already happened. With Jesus washing their feet and the announcement that one would turn against them, the disciples seemed to be slow to pick up the sense of what was going on in Jesus soul. He was distressed. Ff Bruce paints a picture of the mood in the upper room as Jesus is now declaring a traitor in their midst. He says this from his words thus far, the disciples had not gathered the gravity of the situation. They were just having a good time having dinner, right? How many know there's nothing like having somebody tell you bad stuff in the middle of a nice dinner party? I mean, that's what's going on here. Their master was not completely happy about all of them. Was evident. Remember, he had to get down and wash their dirty feet. Remember that part? So you can already tell Jesus is kind of reproving them for their thinking. And we had to keep that context in our mind. Jesus has now moved on from that.
[00:19:06] But one of their present company was going to turn traitor. Came as a real shock to these guys. They thought they knew each other.
[00:19:14] You ever have those moments in the christian life where you been walking for a long period of time with people and all of a sudden somebody does something, you go, I'm shocked. I never saw that coming. I didn't expect that from that person.
[00:19:26] That happens. I've been a Christian a long time. I can tell you I've had surprise moments from people. I didn't see that coming at all.
[00:19:37] Had one of them, by some inadvertent action or word, endangered their safety because remember now, if you've been following this series, I've been painting a picture of how dangerous this has been the whole time. Jesus knew that being in Jerusalem was a very dangerous activity. Remember when he came back to Bethany? People wanted to kill Jesus. They wanted to kill Lazarus. This was not a safe zone for Jesus. And somebody's thinking, hey, did somebody snitch on us? And now Jesus life is in jeopardy. Did we do something inadvertently to create that problem?
[00:20:05] You know, or maybe somebody's doing it deliberately to capture Jesus. This is what FF Bruce is bringing to our attention here. Matthew reveals that once Jesus discloses this information about betrayal, they're immediately saddened by this information. Boy, the mood in that room changes in a hurry, you know, first of all, they've been rebuked. Now Jesus discloses this sad news. Matthew says, and they were very sad and began to say to him, one after the other, surely you don't mean me, Lord. In other words, they're going, hey, you can't be talking about me, can you? See, that's the question they're asking. Now. John says it a little differently. The disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them he meant. So first of all, they go, it can't be me. And then they look around the room going, well, who is he talking about? Looking around like, who is the guy that's doing this? Can you see that?
[00:21:01] I'm trying to paint a scene in your mind. This is a very interesting scene. They're looking at each other like, who would dare to do this thing? And the fact that they can't figure it out tells me that they have no conception of where Judas is really coming from.
[00:21:16] As a matter of fact, it's so amazing to me because Judas is actually sitting right next to Jesus, like John is. There's two of them, one on one side, one on the other. Judas is on one side, John on the other. And Jesus is about to hand to Judas the piece of bread that signifies that he's the guest of honor.
[00:21:36] You'd almost think that that would rule out in their minds that it can't be Judas. And we'll see that they actually do do that. Watch what happens.
[00:21:46] Jesus subtly now reveals the betrayer in an act of reconciling love.
[00:21:51] One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, was reclining next to him. And Simon Peter motioned to this disciple, said, ask him, which one is it? Who is it? Find out. You know, leaning back against Jesus, he said, lord, who is it? And Jesus answered, it's the one to whom I will give this piece of bread. When I've dipped it in the dish. And then dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him what you were about to do. Do quickly. Wow, you talk about discreet. He didn't announce. Stand up. Okay, I got an announcement to make. The bad guy is Judas. Here. He didn't do that.
[00:22:41] He didn't do that at all. Very interesting. Actually, what Jesus does is extremely significant.
[00:22:49] I want you to see. I like what RV Tasker says. When Jesus offers Judas that special morsel from the common disease, such as it was customary for a host to offer to an honored guest. It is a mark of divine love which seeks ever to overcome evil with good. What was Jesus doing? Judas, here's your last chance.
[00:23:10] This is your last chance, Judas, to get it right. I'm offering you forgiveness. I'm offering you grace. I'm offering you love. I'm willing to let this go. Bye. Powerful.
[00:23:24] But now what happens?
[00:23:27] Well, in accepting the Sop, that's what it was called, that morsel of bread. Judas shows himself completely impervious to the appeal of love. And from that moment, he's wholly the tool of Satan. You see, we can move along in our lives to such a point where we keep rebelling and saying no to God and doing our own thing. Till finally our hearts get harder and harder and harder. Until finally they just close right up. And then eventually we just give ourselves to what's evil.
[00:23:56] You know, this really speaks of the height of his hypocrisy. I think we have to be on guard. As one dark deed leads to the next dark deed in our life. You're either moving one way or the other. You're either moving towards God, walking towards obedience, allowing God to do a work in your life, or you've turned your back on God. And you're moving away from God, and you're doing one thing wrong. And one bad thing leads to the next wrong thing, to the next wrong thing. Until finally you don't even know how you got to way over here. When you think you're still over there.
[00:24:27] And there's so many people I see today, they're just drifting, drifting, drifting, drifting. Until finally they drift over here.
[00:24:34] One thing leads to the next. And most people says, I never thought I would ever come to this. I never thought I would ever do this thing. I never thought I would do this much wrong. I never planned on doing that. No. It's one step at a time.
[00:24:49] And every step of the way, God is trying to stop us, slow us down, speak into our lives, give us opportunity over and over and over again.
[00:25:01] Merrill Tenney, in speaking of Judas, action reveals what happens to a heart that becomes self centered. He says his life was an antithesis of love, and its utter selfishness ended in satanic control and the sin which made his name a byword to all subsequent generations.
[00:25:19] What we see from Jesus action is this incredible love, a willingness to forgive. But once the decision is made, Jesus sends Judas on his way. He says, okay, whatever you're gonna do, do quickly. He knows what he's gonna do. You know, I think there comes a moment of no return.
[00:25:36] As a matter of fact, when I read in the book of Romans, when people choose to live a wrong lifestyle, God finally says, and he gave them over.
[00:25:45] And if we perpetuate sin in our lives, eventually God finally says, okay, you want to live this way? I'm going to give you over to it. And what that happens at that point is we continue down that road of sin until we are destroying ourselves and others. But that's the nature of sin.
[00:26:04] The wages of sin or the end of sin is always separation from God and separation from other people.
[00:26:14] In this case, this hardened heart of Judas, having determined to betray Jesus, opened the door for Satan to empower him for this heinous and dark act. The disciples now totally lack discernment of what's transpiring.
[00:26:30] Verse 28. But no one at the meal understood why Jesus had said it to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling them to buy what was needed for the festival or to give something to the poor. See, this festival lasted seven days. It wasn't just a momentary thing. They thought, well, maybe we're running out of supplies. Jesus is telling me, go get some more. Or, oh, maybe Jesus is telling him to go give some money to the poor. Because, you know, this is a festival. It'd be great if they had something to share in this festival. So that's their assumption. How many are getting the picture? They don't see Judas as the betrayer. Anybody see this? Now, it never dawned on them that he was the problem. And I'm sure the fact that Jesus had given him that morsel as the guest of honor that night, probably, in their minds, even eliminated him from their thinking.
[00:27:21] I don't even know what the mood was like in the upper room, but it must have been pretty intense. As soon as Judas had taken the bread. He went out. And John writes very symbolically, and it was night.
[00:27:36] I don't think he's just talking about the time of day. I think he's making a more significant statement, because John talks about light and dark a lot.
[00:27:48] And the light came into the world. You're the light of the world. Oh, but now this is darkness.
[00:27:55] Even though Peter and John had witnessed the act of Jesus handing the morsel of honor to Judas, it didn't even occur to them that Judas is leaving signified the beginning of the betrayal leading to the crucifixion of Jesus. I keep pointing this out to us. This is not in their thinking. You know, you and I can only anticipate what we have an understanding towards. But when you don't understand what's about to happen at all, you have a totally different understanding of how you think life's going to work out. And all of a sudden, something totally not even in your paradigm of wheelhouse of thinking, all of a sudden occurs. It throws you. These guys were literally shocked. You see, they were still locked into Palm Sunday when Jesus was being shouted and cheered. And people thought that the kingdom of God was at hand and people were believing it was the Messiah. You say, well, yeah, but they're going to have to deal with Romans. Listen, they believe that Jesus was God. They believed, like, Moses could overthrow all of Egypt because God's power was demonstrated against the Egyptians. You think the Romans had any more power than the Egyptians had? When God starts acting, these people were totally locked in. They thought this was the moment. And now Jesus is going to be captured in a garden in the middle of the night. Can you imagine how their minds were working? This is blowing them up. They just cannot grasp what is happening. This is not what is supposed to be happening in their mind. And the reason why they can't handle this great moment is because they haven't been listening to Jesus, they haven't heard what he's been saying. They have a wrong understanding of the Messiah, and this is creating all these problems for them.
[00:29:36] John now gives the significance of the moment by simply stating that Judas left and it was night. The statement speaks of more than the time of day, but the forces of spiritual darkness which would seemingly be prevailing. This is the hour of darkness.
[00:29:54] You know, as Jesus had stated earlier, that very hour which had now come would bring glory to the father. Jesus said, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. But what did he mean by that? He means, I'm going to have to die.
[00:30:08] My father is going to be glorified through my death.
[00:30:11] Very truly. I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. He's talking about his death and resurrection. How often in our darkest hours, when death seems to be reigning, where hope is waning, God is secretly working and bringing about new life, new hope, and new direction.
[00:30:32] Something was about to burst. Something amazing was about to happen. And in that hour of the most bleak dark moment, when Jesus is hanging on the cross and the disciples are shattered and are in the upper room, that is the darkest moment. But you see, there was a mission.
[00:30:48] And Jesus said, I want you to know I told you ahead of time I was going to be betrayed. I've been telling you, pay attention. I was going to die. And I told you I'm going to rise again. And it's interesting that Jesus enemies seem to be picking up on what Jesus is saying, and that's why they guarded the tomb, because they kept hearing Jesus say, and in three days I will rise again. But the disciples are so overwhelmed with grief, they can't seem to get messaging.
[00:31:17] We move on to the second painful relational experience. Denial or rejection. A lack of confessing, a lack of following, a lack of obeying.
[00:31:29] Jesus is warning the disciples of the coming spiritual crisis in their lives.
[00:31:34] Let's pause for a second and ask a question. If you knew in the next little while you're going to face the greatest spiritual crisis in your life, are you ready for it?
[00:31:45] That's a shocking question to ask.
[00:31:47] But let me say something to us. We need to be ready at all times, folks. We're in a spiritual battle.
[00:31:56] You know, if we start getting spiritually apathetic, negligent, lax, caught up with this life, you know, we're not going to be ready for what's about to hit us. There's something to be said about maintaining vigilant, watchful, prayerful attitude in life so that when the crisis comes, you are ready to face it because you have been walking close to Jesus.
[00:32:27] But if we're not walking close to Jesus and the crisis comes in our lives, we're blown away. We're just taken off guard. We're not responding in the right way to the thing that's happening to us. And so I'm going to encourage us, I'm pausing us, I'm putting us on pause for a moment, saying, where are you at in your walk with God?
[00:32:47] I hope you're walking consistently.
[00:32:50] I hope you're walking with vigilance, watchfulness, prayerfulness. You know, I think you should be operating with consistency.
[00:33:01] You should always be seeking goddess. Jesus said, you should pray always and never give up. You should be praying without ceasing. You should be seeking the face of God. You should be putting God's kingdom first and his righteousness. You know, that doesn't mean your life won't be enjoyable. I think it's going to be more enjoyable. I think you can enjoy life and you're alert, you're aware, and God brings special blessings into your life. Sometimes I have things happen in my life. I go, God, I don't deserve this wonderful blessing you're giving me right now. It's so amazing. But that doesn't make me lazy or neglect negligent. I want to be careful because I know there's an adversary. I don't live like, oh, I can't believe I'm living in a good moment right now. When's the bad moment gonna come? You know? Like, I'm. I'm living with this anticipation of bad stuff's gonna happen to me. I never think that way. I go, listen, I just. I enjoy every day with God. I can't control what's gonna happen to me, but I can control the response I'm gonna have to it, just like you can. We all can.
[00:33:59] You know, Jesus is willing to pay the ultimate price in making a good confession of faith before Pilate, the Sanhedrin and the people. Peter, Peter. Now, listen, he's honest. He goes, hey, I'm ready to lay down my life. We're going to hear that from him. He means that he's prepared to do it. But when he, when push gets to shove, he's not quite ready for it. The battle intensifies. Peter has been trusting in himself.
[00:34:30] That's what happens.
[00:34:32] Now, I believe that Peter eventually is going to lay down his life for Jesus. We know that's true. But at this moment in his spiritual journey, he's not prepared to do it. He's not in the right spot. He's looking to himself rather than looking to Christ to give him the grace and the power and the enablement to handle what's going to come his way. You know, sometimes we say, I don't think I could ever handle persecution. I don't think I could ever handle opposition. I couldn't handle these things. Folks, I'm going to say something to you. If you keep walking with God every single day, he's going to give you the grace you need. For whatever you're going to face at that time, and you need to know that.
[00:35:09] Just keep walking with him, that grace will be there for you. You know, Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for his upcoming death. Verse 31. When he was gone, when Judas was gone, Jesus said, now the son of man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the son in himself and will glorify him at once. In other words, the glory of the father and the son are the same because they're one.
[00:35:35] My children, it's interesting, Jesus is kind of the Passover meal. My children. He's kind of like the father role. My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You'll look for me. And just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now where I'm going to, you cannot come. Da Carson speaks of this greatest moment of God's glory being revealed to humanity. You know when that happened, when God himself became a man at incarnation, and ultimately the son of God willingly laid down his life to a shameful death.
[00:36:10] That was the greatest moment of God's glory. Is that amazing? It's incredible what he did. He says, even in the prologue, the glorification of the incarnate word occurs not in a spectacular display of blinding light, but in the matrix of human existence. That's da Carson. I just interpret it for you. That's the scholarly way of saying, when God came down and became a baby, he didn't come down here blasting humanity. He came down here humbly.
[00:36:39] That's glorious. Then he goes on to say, now bringing a climax, a theme developed throughout this gospel. The evangelist makes it clear that the supreme moment of divine self disclosure, the greatest moment of display of glory, was in the shame of the cross. That was the most glorious moment.
[00:36:56] He humbled himself and became obedient even to be willing to die on the cross.
[00:37:05] That the most inglorious human moment, the most shameful human moment in the minds of all the people living then, because, you know, to die on a cross to a jewish person is the idea that God has accursed you.
[00:37:21] Jesus took on the curse of the world. Jesus took on the scourge, the shame of the world. Isn't that amazing, what he did for us?
[00:37:29] And Carson says, that was his most glorious momentous.
[00:37:33] You know, sometimes we may be doing things and saying, wow, this is difficult. God goes, yeah, but that's the most glorious moment.
[00:37:42] And while he's doing the Passover, I can just see, Jesus, you know how you know the Passover meal they're talking about, the deliverance out of the slavery of Egypt. I wonder if Jesus is explaining to them about the new covenant. I think he is. If we read the synoptic gospels, he's talking about this. I'm giving you a new covenant. I'm going to deliver you from sin, and I'm going to give you a new mandate, a mission. And here's how you need to live out this mission. Here's the mission. You go and make disciples. But how do you make disciples? And who is a disciple? And Jesus now gives us a new commandment.
[00:38:13] In verse 34, he says, a new commandment, I give you. Love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this will everyone know that you are my disciples. If ye have love one for another.
[00:38:27] Now, what makes this a new commandment? I thought about this. In the Old Testament, love was there. As a matter of fact, the expert of the law came to Jesus, said, you know, what is the greatest command? Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, he says to Jesus, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus says, you've answered rightly. The expert of the law knew this. This is interesting. Love was at the heart even of the old Testament covenanthe. But Jesus said, I give you a new command. Well, what's new about Jesus command if love has already been expressed in the old covenant?
[00:39:01] I want you to love as I've loved you. Ooh, God's raising the bar. Because, you know, in the old Testament, you love your neighbor as you love yourself. Now, Jesus says, no, that's not good enough. I want you to love as I love you. Guys. Haven't figured it out yet, but you know what? You didn't even practice the first element when I washed your feet. Look at what I'm doing. I'm loving at this servant level. But I want you to know, I want you to love to the point where you're willing to give up your life for other people.
[00:39:33] That's the new commandment.
[00:39:35] I want you to have a self giving love. I want you to lay down your life for one another.
[00:39:41] That's the command that Jesus gave us. And that was a new command.
[00:39:48] We've already said all of this.
[00:39:51] And then da Carson says something very fascinating.
[00:39:54] He says, the more we recognize the depth of our own sin, the more we recognize the love of the savior. How many know that's true? The more I see myself as a sinner, the more I'm amazed that God loves me. Anybody shocked by that? Why would God love me? Why did God pick me? I don't deserve this.
[00:40:10] The more we recognize the love of the savior, the more we appreciate the love of the savior.
[00:40:18] Then he goes on to say, and the more and the higher his standard appears, the more we appreciate the love of the savior, the higher his standard seems to appear. And then all of a sudden, we recognize the higher the standard appears, the more we recognize our selfishness, our innate self centeredness in the depth of our own sin.
[00:40:45] You see, the more I look at Jesus and his love, the more I'm overwhelmed by how far away I am from that. That's what Carson's telling me. I go, he's so true. The more I have a revelation of God's love, the more I recognize I'm unlike him.
[00:41:00] I cannot love like this. Anybody say you can love exactly like Jesus loves?
[00:41:08] I would argue right now, there's not one person in this room that can do it.
[00:41:13] The only person that can do it is God himself, Jesus himself. And that tells me something. It has to be Christ in me that's loving like this, because I can't do it.
[00:41:24] And that's why this is the mark of a true disciple. Only a true disciple can love like this.
[00:41:31] How many are seeing that? This is really the test? You know, it's not the test of doctrine. It's not the test of theology. It's the test of how am I loving people around me. That's the true test, if I'm a follower of Jesus or not. And how am I loving one another, the people I actually know, how am I loving my spouse? How am I loving my children? How am I loving my brothers and sisters in Christ? You know, we had a funeral here Friday. It was a very moving funeral. I'll tell you why it was so moving to me. Because Caroline really built a community around herself of love. And all the people that got up and spoke, they were crying. They were just going, we were loved by her, and we love her. I'm going, that's what it's about. This is the heart of the gospel. It's about love. We got to learn to love each other.
[00:42:21] And you know what? We need God's help to do that.
[00:42:25] It's the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the spirit. The result of the spirit is love. We need God's love in our hearts.
[00:42:33] So a lot of times as christians, we're running around flailing in different directions. When God goes, it's real simple, guys just start loving each other. You'll see what starts happening. Love covers a multitude of sins, does it not? Of course it does.
[00:42:49] Well, Peter questioned, and his prideful confidence. He says, simon, peter said, lord, where are you going? He says, where I'm going, you cannot follow now, but you'll follow later. Peter answered, lord, why can't I follow you? I'll lay down my life for you. And I think Peter was sincere about this. He was committed, no question, but he's missing Jesus focus on the mission and the new emphasis of life. Followers, the disciples seem to be fixated on the departure of Jesus and the fact that they can't come with him. And so Peter now expresses his passion and devotion to follow Jesus immediately, even to the point of laying down his life. And like Peter, our intentions may be honorable, but we're often unable to ascertain our own weaknesses, which are often hidden to us and are only exposed by great trial and testing. How many of that's true?
[00:43:45] You know, it's a lot easier when things are going good to say, I love Jesus, but it gets a little harder when it costs something.
[00:43:53] Jesus warning towards Peter's self confidence, a little bit of his pride, right. He said, will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly. I tell you, before the rooster crows, you'll disown me three times. Carson says sadly, good intentions in a secure room after good food are far less attractive in a darkened garden with a hostile mob. But I would even argue. Even there, Peter was pretty brave. He took out his sword. He was going to defend Jesus. He was going to die with Jesus right there in the garden. How many see that?
[00:44:23] Oh, we know he did that. But how many know? After the ardor of passion had subsided, after the adrenaline had worn off and Jesus has marched off, and Peter's following from afar, and he gets to where Jesus is now being held. A little servant girl says, aren't you one of his followers?
[00:44:44] And, boy, Peter just shrinks. He just falls apart, doesn't he? I don't even know this person. Now. He's afraid, huh? Wow. We know that years later, a humbler Peter would lay down his life for Jesus and his brothers and sisters in Christ. This is a warning that we cannot serve. Jesus in our own human strengthen were no match for the powers of darkness that assailed our soul. We need to recognize that we must find our refuge in Christ. We know that Jesus forgave Peter and his denial and the rest of the disciples as they fled from him in the garden. So how do we handle betrayal and rejection? How did Jesus handle it well? Jesus continues to exercise love and forgiveness until the heart of others have hardened to such a place that they have now embraced another course away from repentance.
[00:45:35] But let me just remind us, Bruce Milne writes this, and I think this is very powerful. I'm going to close with this. He says, this paragraph is a powerful and disturbing reminder of the ambiguity of the life of the people of God in every age. Despite all the laudable and entirely appropriate attempts, particularly since the reformation, to obtain a pure membership for the church, it remains, as Calvin acknowledged in the 16th century, a mixed multitude.
[00:46:01] Only Christ can truly unveil the heart, as he will do at the coming judgment day. You know, sometimes people say, I don't understand why the church is doing this, or people are doing that, or, why are these christians doing that?
[00:46:13] Whoa.
[00:46:15] First of all, you got new christians, you got immature people, and then you have people who think they're christians, who profess something but are not really totally committed.
[00:46:25] It's kind of a challenge.
[00:46:27] Then he goes on to say, until the church is an irreducibly ambiguous company, at once both holy and profane, embracing the servants of Christ and the servants of Satan, just like Jesus had Judas in his company. This must not surprise us or ever, however, cause us to stumble. You know, if that's a Christian, I don't want anything to do with it. I've heard that remark. The presence of Judas among the visible company of disciples throughout the course of Jesus mission did not prevent the completion of the purpose of the son, nor the coming of the spirit, nor the witness of the apostles, nor the going of Jesus to the world through them. It need not. It must not prevent it now.
[00:47:08] But maybe the most disturbing element in this passage is the awesome warning represented in the figure of Judas.
[00:47:16] There's tragically a road to hell at the very gates of heaven in the sense that it's possible to resist even the prolonged personal appeals of Jesus and turn away at the last in the darkness. There are those whom even Jesus cannot and will not save, not that his grace is insufficient for them. On the contrary, it truly is enough for all, enough for each, enough forevermore, as Charles Wesley eloquently declared, but they will not come to receive it.
[00:47:47] What does this mean?
[00:47:49] I think we need to stop being shocked by people's behavior. Even when they profess to be christians, the most profound moments of betrayal and rejection often come from the most unexpected sources.
[00:48:02] And what should our response be but continuous love and forgiveness, until they become so hardened that they flee in darkness amen. Let's stand a little more sobering message this morning.
[00:48:21] How do you talk about Jesus being betrayed?
[00:48:26] You know, not it sobering us a little bit or looking at the life of Judas, but let's leave this place remembering the words of Jesus, a new command I give you love people like I do. And I think that what that'll do is put you on your knees and say, okay, God, I hear what you're saying, but I certainly need your help. I can't do that. Only you can through me. So let's just lift up our hands before God this morning and say, lord, would you come and help me to love the way you love?
[00:49:00] Could you help me to love people the way you love people? Because I have to be honest, I can't do it.
[00:49:06] I need your grace. I need your spirit to fill my heart so that love becomes just a channel through which you flow through it. I believe you want to flow through each one of our lives, Father, with your divine love, so that people around us will experience agape love, this unconditional, this forgiving kind of love. Lord, we need your help. I can't know. None of my brothers and sisters here can do it. Apart from you, it's impossible. But with you, all things are possible. And now we pray. Fill us, Lord, with your spirit of love that it may flow through our lives and that we could prove to be a blessing to one another and to the people around us. Lord, may they experience the love of God through our lives. We thank you for that. In Jesus name. Amen. God bless you as you leave this.
