Disclosure of the Betrayer

Introduction: The Holy Spirit's Focus on Christ's Betrayal and Death

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, March 19th, 1989, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together in the Word of God to the 14th chapter of Mark's Gospel, and I would ask you to follow as I read two paragraphs from this 14th chapter, and then we shall read a parallel passage from the Gospel of John. Mark chapter 14 and verse 12.

0:45 And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover, his disciples say unto him, Where will you that we go and make ready that you may eat the Passover? And he sends two of his disciples and says to them, Go into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of wine, follow him, and wheresoever he shall enter in, say to the master of the house, The teacher says, Where is my guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will himself show you a large upper room, furnished and ready, and there make ready for us. And the disciples went forth and came into the city, and they went forth and came into the city, and they went forth and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. And when it was evening, he comes with the twelve, and as they reclined and were eating, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you shall betray me, even he that eats with me. They began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one,

2:11 Is it I? And he said unto them, It is one of the twelve, he that dips with me in the dish, because the Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him. But woe unto that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Good were it for that man if he had not been born.

2:38 And now to the thirteenth chapter of John's Gospel, the setting obviously the same as I read the first two verses. Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And during supper, the devil, having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, said unto him, Simon's son, to betray him. That's the setting, and now over to verse twenty-one. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in the spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. The disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spoke. There was at the table, reclining in Jesus' book, one of the disciples, and one of the disciples said unto him, There was at the table, reclining in Jesus' book, one of the disciples said unto him, In the bosom, one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.

3:51 Simon Peter, therefore, beckoned to him, and saith unto him, Tell us, who it is of whom he speaks? He, leaning back as he was on Jesus' breast, saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus, therefore, answered, He it is, for whom I shall dip the sop, and give it to him. So when he had dipped the sop, he takes and gives it, to Judas the son of Simon Iscariot and after the sop then entered Satan into him Jesus therefore saith unto him what you do do quickly now let us again beseech God that by the Holy Spirit we may come to understand the mind of God in this passage and know not only what it says of our Lord in the treachery and betrayal of Judas but what it says to us as we sit in the presence of the living God this morning let us pray our Father we bow in your presence very conscious that if it was possible for a man to live, to eat, to sleep

5:16 to be in the immediate presence of the incarnate God over a period of many months and yet see nothing beautiful in him see nothing glorious in his person nothing of saving life in his words but to go out and hand him over for the price of a slave then we know it's possible for us to have Bibles opened on our laps to have a preacher seek to be honest with the words of scripture and to go out of here as though we had heard a lecture on the size and structure of an airplane O God have mercy on us lest left to the native darkness of our hearts and blindness of our hearts we should see no glory in Christ no beauty in your beloved Son that we should feel no present and powerful impressions of the Holy Spirit leading us to know and love him more Lord God deliver us from such a soul-destructive encounter with scripture but grant that your words will be life and salvation to us through the present ministry of the Holy Spirit we ask in Jesus' name Amen

6:40 Now for anyone who is at all aware of the content of the four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John it is evident that the Holy Spirit guided the Gospel writers to pass over large segments of the life of Jesus of Nazareth with a fascinating and at times frustrating silence but in stark contrast that same Holy Spirit guided these same writers to capture and record minute details concerning those events which are the events of the Holy Spirit which lie at the heart of the Gospel namely the events surrounding the betrayal the suffering the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and we have just such an example of this contrast in the passage to which we have now come in our consecutive expositions of the Gospel of Mark for beginning in Mark 14 and verse 12 we have a passage three paragraphs in somewhat great detail

8:06 compared with other sections of the life of our Lord are given over to the events and circumstances which focus upon the feast of the Passover that feast which was rooted in the mighty deliverance of the ancient people of God from Egyptian bondage that feast which finds its fulfillment in the life of the Lord in the life of the Lord in the greater deliverance of all of the people of God from the bondage of sin and death through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and in our study together last Lord's Day morning we examined verses 12 through 16 verses which describe the preparation made for this final Passover meal that Jesus would eat and eat with his disciples these were preparations made at Jesus' directions they were preparations made by Peter and John at the home of an unnamed friend of Jesus on Thursday afternoon of the Passion Week now in the next paragraph verses 17 through 21 we have the record of the prophecy concerning the betrayer and as we attempt to follow the narrative and open up its contents

The Shocking Disclosure to the Twelve Disciples

9:34 we shall note first of all this morning in verses 17 and 18 the shocking disclosure made to the twelve disciples the shocking disclosure made to the twelve disciples and under this heading we shall note the time of the disclosure the circumstances of the disclosure and the circumstances and the substance of the disclosure first of all in recording this shocking disclosure to the twelve disciples we are directed by Mark to the time of this disclosure verse 17 and when it was evening he comes with the twelve now as we've had occasion to mention before in the Jewish reckoning the day did not begin at six in the morning but the days were reckoned from sundown to sundown and since the Passover was to be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the Jewish month Nisan that day would begin at sundown on what we would call Thursday of the Passion Week according to those who are aware of the customs of that day when Mark tells us

11:01 and when it was evening or when evening had come he comes with the twelve evening would have been signaled by the appearance and the visual sighting of the brightest three stars in the heavens at that season of the year upon the sighting of those three stars the great silver trumpets would have sung the night of the Passover it sounded from the temple mount announcing to all within the hearing of those trumpets that the feast of Passover had officially begun Peter and John have obviously rejoined Jesus in the ten most likely in Bethany and they have begun to make their way as the sun sets in the west back into the city of Jerusalem towards that prepared room now well lit and fully furnished and made ready for the Passover meal and since all of the families in Jerusalem would likewise be gathering in groups in most cases of at least ten people there would be nothing unusual or suspicious to find the Lord Jesus with the twelve making their way

12:29 into the city and to this house of the unnamed friend to whom he had directed Peter and John some hours earlier so the time of this disclosure was evening when Jesus came with the twelve to the appointed place prepared for the Passover meal then notice secondly under this heading of the shocking disclosure not only the time of the disclosure but the circumstances of the disclosure verse 18 and as they sat or if you have the 1901 ASV you will notice the marginal reading is a more accurate rendering of the Greek and as they reclined and were eating Jesus said because Mark is guided by the Holy Spirit simply to focus upon these two circumstances as they were reclining and eating Jesus said we must not imagine that they had simply come into the upper room reclined on their appointed places and begun to eat when suddenly Jesus blurted out this shocking disclosure rather by

13:58 carefully considering what is recorded in the 22nd chapter of Luke and in the 13th chapter of John and by considering the various stages and ritual elements that formed an integral part of the Passover meal considerable time had already passed before our Lord made this shocking disclosure and as much time had already passed in which the disciples had been humbled by Jesus' example of taking the place of a slave and washing their feet by Jesus' rebukes as recorded in Luke 22 as they were jostling to find a chief placed in the horseshoe shaped couches which surrounded the large table upon which the Passover elements were spread as their hearts and their minds had begun to experience experience some of the legitimate solemn joy of the Passover occasion as they had gone through the ritual of drinking one of the cups and some of the food and probably were at that point where they were towards the end of the elements of that feast and each of them eating his portion of the roasted lamb John tells us

15:27 in John 13 21 that it was the deep agitated spirit of our Lord Jesus that precipitated this shocking disclosure I remind you of the words read in your hearing when Jesus had thus said he was troubled in the spirit and solemnly testified and said verily one of you shall betray me and that word troubled in the spirit means deeply disturbed to be terrified to be agitated and it was in this state of soul and of mind which our Lord found himself that he could no longer contain what he knew all along what he had known from the very beginning have not I chosen you twelve and yet one of you is a devil that not now his spirit can no longer contain the pressure of sitting in that intimate family context with the betrayer in the midst and deeply agitated in spirit in those circumstances our Lord with an unusual tone of solemnity and introducing his words

16:56 with the magisterial verily verily it is in that particular set of circumstances that our Lord makes the shocking disclosure and that brings us in the third place having looked at the time and the circumstances of the disclosure to the substance of the disclosure even though the disciples had found it almost impossible to receive his words our Lord had previously and repeatedly spoken in the plainest of terms that on this troop trip to Jerusalem he would be betrayed or handed over he would suffer he would die he would subsequently be raised from the dead I remind you of how plainly he spoke to them as recorded in Mark 9 and verse 31 for he taught his disciples in seven to them the son of man is delivered up into the hands of men and they shall kill him and when he is killed after three days he shall rise again but they understood not the saying and were afraid to ask him

18:25 the words came as it were on the outer vestibule of the ear registered on the brain it wasn't that our Lord was speaking now in metaphorical language destroy this temple and in three days I shall raise it up again he speaks in a stark shocking bluntness the son of man is delivered up to the hands of men they shall kill him when he is killed he shall rise again they did not understand the saying they did not understand how a rejected a killed and resurrected son of man fit in to the messianic scheme and they were fearful to ask him questions that he might further illuminate their minds again in chapter 10 verses 32 to 34 our Lord goes back to the same lesson he began to tell them the things that were to happen saying verse 33 behold we go up to Jerusalem in the setting of our passage today they are now in Jerusalem the son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priest and the scribes and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him unto the Gentiles and they shall mock him and spit upon him scourge him and kill him and after three days he shall rise again how could he state it more plainly

19:54 but the evidence is clear that though the words registered on the brain they did not sink down into their hearts they did not yet by the illumination of the spirit understand how it was necessary for this one to whom they were attached in faith and love to fulfill all of the prophecies of the suffering servant of Jehovah if he was indeed to be the savior of men and in that set of circumstances and with that background the substance of his disclosure could have come as nothing less than the kind of shock effect that comes if there's a summer day and the sky seems blue to eternity and out of a blue sky there is a thunderclap that rattles your teeth well this is how the words of our Lord must have fallen upon them having pushed to one side these blunt words about delivered up and handed over and scourged and killed if ever those things were to come to pass surely they would come to pass by the instigation of those vicious envious jealous spiritually blind apostate leaders of Israel but now in the substance of his shocking disclosure our Lord with agitation of spirit

21:23 introducing his words with the magisterial introduction verily I say unto you he drops the disclosure upon them with these words too plain to be misunderstood here are his words one of you shall betray me even he that eats with me one of you one of you in the inner circle one of you will hand me over you will deliver me up and then to intensify the shocking nature of the fact he adds one of you that is eating with me now remember the significance of eating with another man in the culture in which this entire scene is set and this is what underscores the horror of the betrayal because as we read in a passage such as Psalm 41 9 to every but eating with a man and then to turn against him was the height or I should say the deepest depth of the betrayal of the symbols of friendship yea mine own familiar friend in whom

22:51 I trusted who did eat of my bread has lifted up his heel against me the psalmist in describing the intimacy of this friendship picks out as the sacramental symbol of its intimacy not one who loaned me a thousand bucks in my need not one who deeded over to me his car or his chariot his horse or his donkey but he takes out as the outstanding index of the depth of the friendship apparent friendship one who ate his bread with me and so our lord in giving this shocking disclosure of the betrayal and of the betrayer does so underscoring how horrible the betrayal will be for it is not only one of you of the intimate circle of my followers but one of you who eats bread with me even in this sacramental meal this established feast by Jehovah God of the covenant in summary then the shocking disclosure is made made with all of its stunning

24:20 bluntness and chilling horror its seeming impossibility and incongruity one of you you who have been with me chosen to be with me you who have received from me special authority to go out and to preach and to heal and to raise the dead in my name you who have seen me in the most intimate of circumstances you who have beheld my sinless life my passionate prayers to my father you who have seen me in my life poured out in service for others one of you my familiar ones here in this private chamber as we meet as a family to celebrate the great deliverance of our fathers out of Egypt one of you shall betray me now then having looked at the shocking disclosure made to the twelve disciples consider in the second place from our text the varied responses of the twelve disciples to this disclosure the varied responses of the twelve disciples to this disclosure and in addressing this matter of the varied responses we will bring in albeit briefly some of the additional light of Matthew 26

The Varied Responses of the Twelve Disciples

25:50 and of John 13 in doing so as William Hendrickson accurately observes there were basically three responses number one the sorrowful self distrusting response of the eleven look at the text those sooner does our Lord say one of you shall betray me he that is eating with me but we read they began to be sorrowful and to say unto him one by one is it I hear the response of the eleven was a sorrowful self distrusting question the words of our Lord immediately caused the eleven disciples to experience what is called in our text grief or heaviness same word used to describe what people feel on the occasion of the death of a loved one first Thessalonians 4 13 Paul says I do not want you to grieve as those who have no hope that's our word it's the word used by Matthew to describe what Jesus felt in the beginning of the throes of Gethsemane Matthew 26 37 he began to be sorrowful and sore amazed

27:19 so this was no surface twinge of the soul this was the kind of sorrow that percolates as it were through all of the substance of the soul and grips the inner being and as the words began to produce that sorrow out of that heaviness they are conscious of two things their Lord does not lie and if he says one of them will betray him then his word must be true but secondly while they know of no such intention in their hearts they are yet conscious of their vulnerability and therefore I've said it is a sorrowful self-distrusting question and the question they ask though it's clumsy in the English it must be made so to convey the force of the original is not a question is it I as though they had no judgment about themselves in the way the question is framed in the original they expect a negative answer they are looking for a confirmation of their own consciousness that they have no intention of betraying their Lord and so I say it's clumsy but it's more accurate to render it idiotically it is not I is it and Matthew says the eleven then also added the word Lord

28:47 it is not I is it Lord there was sorrowful but self distrusting inquiry or as one has rendered it surely it is not I Lord you see what they were expressing if our Lord says one of us will betray him then he does not lie one of us shall betray him but as their hearts felt the sorrow of that reality and as they reflected consciously upon the state of their own hearts with reference to their Lord the eleven could question him with sorrow with self distrust and yet at the same time with integrity that they had no conscious intentions of so betraying their Lord so while they asked with stunned and grieving hearts the one who does know who will betray him is also listening I wonder if his ears began to turn red I wonder if his face flushed I wonder if his heart skipped two or three beats and began to pound within his breast for at that point he knows as he never knew before Jesus knows all about my

30:16 trip to the chief priest and their scribes he knows all about our bargain and transaction he knows that there in the money box next to me is my estimation of him the price of a slave but you see the eleven are ignorant of all of that there are only two who know that in the room Jesus and Judas himself and so the response of the eleven is a sorrowful self distrusting question one in which basically they long for an affirmation from Christ no it is not you nor you nor you nor you nor you but it is this one but then secondly there was the hypocritical self condemning question of Judas and here you find it recorded in Matthew 26 not only the sorrowful self distrusting question of the eleven but look at the hypocritical self condemning question of Judas Matthew 26 and verse 25 and Judas who betrayed him answered and said is it I Rabbi and in the structure of Matthew's Greek he asked the question exactly as the others asked it

31:44 earlier in this paragraph in the gospel of Matthew 22b is it I Lord he took up the same question that indicated he wanted an affirmation surely it is not I but isn't it interesting that where Matthew says they addressed him as Lord 22b he used a different address it is not I is it Rabbi I'm not quite sure what that significance is but I think it has some significance you see in addressing him Lord they were as it were affirming afresh in their own hearts their recognition that he was indeed the messianic king thou art the Christ the son of the living God thou art Jehovah incarnate and while they were still fuzzy and woolly headed in their understanding of how suffering and death and rejection and the cross fit into the scheme of redemption they were not at all uncertain in their hearts about their attachment to him as the messianic king an attachment in faith and love and joyful submission surely it is not I Lord each one says in turn but then Judas he asks his hypocritical

33:12 self-condemning question surely it is not I Rabbi he saith unto him you have said it Judas still has the mask on Judas is still quoting the script still has his mask on still quoting his script even when Jesus as it were reached across the table and pulled his mask off and tore the script out of his hands Judas is determined to wear it already having struck his deal with the religious leaders already frustrated by the holy guile of Jesus in making the Passover arrangements in such a way that Judas did not know where they were till he arrived and could not by any means betray him then he assumes the look in the tone of offended innocence tinged with humility surely it is not I Rabbi do you feel sick to your stomach I hope you do what a sickening display of the human heart devoid of the grace of God and the welcome home of the devil and his fiendish guile

34:38 the hypocritical self-condemning question of Judas that was the second response but then there was a third response of the twelve disciples and we'll not take the time to expound it that's why I read from John 13 and that was the trusting private question of John and there's a fascinating section in Edersheim's volume two on the life and times of Jesus the Messiah in which he suggests if you liken this pulpit to the large table on which the food was spread and around it the U-shaped couch like a large horseshoe that most likely since they leaned on the left arm and ate with the right hand at the end of this part of the U-horseshoe shaped couches the U-shaped couches would have been John leaning on the bosom of Jesus Judas Jesus here Judas to the left Peter after the lesson on humility he that would be greatest let him take the lowest place where do you think Peter was probably sitting all the way around the other end of the horseshoe at the lowest place so Edersheim reasons and I think wisely and Peter apparently sends over a hand signal to John who's right here can you do that very easy sitting right across the table John winks says I got the

36:07 message his head is on Jesus bosom and he whispers who is it Lord and Jesus whispers the one who at this very point I will now take the sop and give it to him the others are carrying on their little group conversations as people will do at a large dining table seldom is there one conversation going on at one time so that even then when Jesus said to Judas what you do do quickly and Judas gets up and takes his money box and goes out it says that the disciples thought he was going out on an act of benevolence or to buy some more supplies for the Passover meal so those were the three responses the sorrowful self distrusting question of the eleven surely it is not I Lord asked by each one in turn the hypocritical self condemning question of Judas surely it is not I Rabbi thou hast said it and then the trusting private question of John now I say that while I acknowledge some uncertainty as to the precise order of these varied responses especially the latter two that these were the responses is clear by comparing scripture with scripture

37:36 that's what Pastor Nichols meant in the previous hour when he said the analogy of scripture you take the total witness of the word of God on a given issue this much is clear that with this shocking disclosure and its varied responses what should have awakened the conscience of Judas caused him to cross a line from which he never returned for it says after the sop that is when Jesus said to John the one to whom I now dip and give the sop here it is it says after the sop Satan enter Judas and he went out and it was night and it's been it was night and as surely as the thick darkness of Palestine pictured the darkness of his soul in a short time the noose would be around his neck placed by his own hands and he'd hang himself and subsequently fall from the place of hanging and his bowels gush out and the scripture says he would go to his place outer dark it's been

The Additional Disclosure and Its Scriptural Reason

39:05 night ever since and it'll be night for Judas for all eternity well we've looked at the shocking disclosure made by our Lord secondly the varied responses of the twelve to that disclosure now notice thirdly the additional disclosure made to the twelve we're now back in mark fourteen the additional disclosure made to the twelve verse twenty and he said unto them it is one of the twelve he that dips with me in the dish for or better translated because the son of man goes even as it is written of him you have a hot tea not a gar for you Greek students and I'm surprised so few of the commentators have picked up on the significance of it in this setting what is our Lord doing he is now giving an additional disclosure to the twelve let's look at its substance and then the reason for it what is the substance of the additional disclosure Matthew twenty-six twenty-three calls it an answer but then Matthew only asserts that which he already

40:35 had said that one of the twelve that had dipped his hand with him into the dish well you see if there were three or four smaller dishes for the diminutive is used in Mark it may be that for that kind of sauce made up of fruits and vinegar in which they did the unleavened bread there may have been several around the table just as we might have several butter dishes where we might have only one plate of meat to be passed among all several butter dishes or several relish dishes or several dishes of chutney for some of our English friends well in either case you see this was no certain identification when our Lord followed up with this additional disclosure he said unto them one of the twelve he that has already dipped with me in the dish according to Matthew or he that is dipping with me in the dish so the additional disclosure simply underscores what had already been said earlier that it is one of the twelve those who have eaten with him those who presently now are partaking of this sacred meal instituted by God declaring God's mighty power to deliver

42:02 from bondage well all the while someone is in such a horrible bondage to covetousness that he's prepared to hand over the son of God for thirty pieces of silver but now notice after the substance of that additional disclosure the reason for it and it is this he says one of the twelve he that dips with me in the dish because the son of man goes even as it is written of him in other words the reason for this additional disclosure was this the son of man is going going out of this world by way of betrayal death and resurrection but he must go out as he came in and as he conducted himself at every point along the way as the son of man who perfectly fits all of the old testament scriptures concerning him and when he says one of the twelve he that dips with me in the dish he says the reason for this additional disclosure is to underscore that I'm going out of this world but I'm going

43:31 even as it is written concerning me now turn to John thirteen for the clue that pulls this all together John thirteen verse eighteen I speak not of you all I know whom I have chosen but that the scripture may be fulfilled he that eats my bread and you'll notice the marginal reading many ancient authorities read his bread with me lifted up his heel against me and that's a direct quotation from Psalm forty-one verse nine but that the scripture may be fulfilled you see this was no distinct messianic prophecy in its context you read Psalm forty-one and you'd say I don't see any distinct prophecy but almighty God intended that record of what was probably a reference to the betrayal of Ahithophel David's trusted counselor it was a God established type of the betrayal of the Lord Jesus it had to be someone who was in the inner circle who ate bread with

45:01 Messiah and John says in order that the scriptures might be fulfilled it had to come to pass in this way and if you have time this afternoon I commend to you second Samuel chapter fifteen verses twelve and thirty one in particular where we have the record of Ahithophel David's trusted counselor confidant and friend who defects from David who betrays David and goes over to his enemy well we've looked at the shocking disclosure the varied responses the additional disclosure but now notice in the fourth place the solemn pronouncement concerning Judas and all I'm attempting to do is to open up as briefly but responsibly as possible the text itself notice in the fourth place the solemn pronouncement about Judas and there are two things in that pronouncement first of all his awesome responsibility for his deed and secondly his frightening destiny because of his deed but woe to that man through whom the son of man is betrayed now that word woe when falling from the lips of our

The Solemn Pronouncement Concerning Judas

46:30 Lord carries in its womb all of the horror of divine rejection divine retribution and malediction it is the opposite of all that is packed into the word blessed which speaks of the favor and smile and good will of God bound up in this word woe is rejection retribution malediction and Jesus says he must go as it is written Judas is the antitype of Ahithophel yet he's fully responsible for his actions look at it the son of man goes even as it is written of him but woe unto that man and look carefully at the grammar through whom the ah through whom not by whom through whom our Lord acknowledges that Judas was indeed on under the influence of an even deeper and more sinister power even the devil himself now notice what is said on the one hand the son of man must go as it is written therefore it must be someone from the inner circle who eats bread with him he must go that way on the one hand

48:00 is divine decree on the other hand the action of Judas is said to be action in which one sense he was just the lackey of the devil it was through him that it is the ancient serpent attempting to crush the heel of the seed of the woman and though his actions are bounded by the divine decree on the one hand and the powerful present unusual activity of the devil on the other he is totally fully responsible for his actions woe unto that man and our lord places the full weight of moral responsibility upon Judas's shoulders divine decree not withstanding and the devil's activity not withstanding so his solemn pronouncement concerning Judas focuses on his awesome responsibility for his deed and then secondly his frightening destiny because of his deed good were it for that man if he had not been born because Judas will go to that place prepared for the devil and his angels our lord said good it would be had he never been conceived had there never been a woman in southern Judah who came

49:29 to her husband one day with her face full of light and enthusiasm honey I think I'm pregnant no woman ever came saying to her husband I think I'm pregnant only to be pregnant with Judas good it were that no birth pangs were ever undertaken and a man child brought forth and joy come into a home good it were for that man if he could somehow be taken back into nothingness good it were for that man if he had not been born seldom do we find such horrific words on the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ and with these solemn words ringing in all of their ears and with the additional light of John 13 Judas is now identified by Peter and John and goes out into the darkness of the night well that's what the passage tells us about the shocking disclosure which Jesus makes to the twelve now what does this all say to us well we could very easily get preoccupied with Judas but remember the gospel doesn't focus on Judas

What the Passage Teaches About Our Blessed Lord: His Control

50:58 but Jesus and Judas has his place in the decree of God but Mark is still right on track with his great theme this is the gospel concerning Jesus Christ the Son of God and while I may not get to all of my applications I'm determined to get to my first one and it's this see what the passage teaches us about our blessed Lord and I see at least three things standing out on the very surface of the text number one our Lord is in complete control of all the people circumstances and events which will shortly lead him to his death do you see that in the passage our Lord is in complete control of all the people circumstances and events which will issue in his death you'll remember with subtlety he secures that upper room Judas will not be given any intimation of whose house it is where it's located why because Christ was determined to eat that last Passover Luke says that his words were these with desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you he must institute

52:27 the simple supper of remembrance as an addendum to the Passover meal he must bequeath to his church that simple feast of remembrance of his body given and his blood poured forth he is in absolute control can't you just picture Judas is already under the instigation of the devil gone to the chief priest made his deal he's got his 30 pieces of silver in his stinking money box trumping it a bit to do his deed and without any evidence of restraint the Lord Jesus has him as it were with a bit in his mouth and the reins are in his hand and he says Judas you don't do your deed till I tell you and at the end of this part he says what you do do quickly I'm giving you leave but I'm in control and furthermore the one who says that one day as the judge of the world I will consign Judas to everlasting darkness good it were for that man had he not been born he could have then and there destroyed him with a word of his mouth he who spoke to raging seas and they became smooth as glass he who speaks into the jaws of death and death spits out

53:57 one that it held for four days could have spoken a word and made Judas a shriveling cripple a raving maniac he's in absolute control now why is it so necessary to emphasize this right here in the gospel of Mark because some of the things that are about to happen to our Lord you'd say has God vacated his universe why does he allow men to take his well beloved spit upon him mock him fall before him with jeering and with ridicule and then open up his back with the horrible lash and the torture of scourging cause him to stumble under the weight of a Roman gibbet until they have to force an onlooker to carry his cross you'd say has God vacated his universe no no my friends hear the words of Jesus no man takes my life from me I lay it down of myself and it's vital to see the principle right in this passage that our Lord is in complete control of all the people circumstances and events which lead to his death for it's only only in that setting that he

55:25 could indeed be our savior who in the language of Philippians was obedient unto death even the death of the cross so he is not inexorably pressed into the jaws of the cross by a pincer move of the devil on the one hand and the evil of men's hearts on the others no that is not the gospel the gospel is that he moves deliberately calmly consciously to the cross of his own bullish controlling every single event and every circumstance and the action of every person so that all along the way particularly do you see it in the gospel of Matthew you find this phrase coming out in conjunction with the circumstances of his death that it might be fulfilled that it might be fulfilled that it might be fulfilled that it might be fulfilled my friends what a wonderful thing to know that our savior is one who became the sin bearer voluntarily driven not by the cleverness of Judas and by the malice of the chief priest and the scribes and the might and power of Rome but driven to that cross under the pressure of his own

What the Passage Teaches About Our Blessed Lord: His Submission to Scripture

56:54 eternal love for hell deserving sinners and by that alone second thing we see about our Lord in this passage is this our Lord is in complete submission to the path marked out by scripture as he makes his way to the cross our Lord is not only in complete control of all people circumstances and events as he goes to the cross he is in complete submission to the path marked out by scripture as he makes his way to the cross he said unto them verse twenty-one of the twelve he that dips with me in the dish because the son of man goes even as it is written of him and isn't that the heart of the gospel by which Paul says we are saved not just that Christ died for our sins but what follows according to the scriptures and he was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures and why is that so vital because at that very time and subsequent to his leaving there would be many Jesus said coming saying I am Christ and I am Christ and since

58:24 then we have our moonies whose leader says he is Christ and we have all kinds of Christ's but none have the credentials of a whole entrance into the world a pattern of life while here an exodus out of it and back to heaven in which every jot and piddle of Old Testament scripture was fulfilled to the letter except those things that are yet to be fulfilled in the unfolding of redemptive history so when the apostles go out to preach what did they do they reasoned out of the scriptures opening and alleging that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ of God oh my friends this is what gives joy to a gospel preacher you say how do you know you've got the truth I'll tell you why you study this Bible very long and see in instance after instance after instance how our Lord Jesus perfectly fulfills all that was prophesied write down think of it no formal prophecy that Ahithophel was the prototype of Judas and yet John says in order that the scriptures might be fulfilled it had to be one who ate bread with him who betrayed him

59:52 what an eye-opener we're going to have when we get to heaven and see all the scriptures that pointed to Jesus we were just too blind not to see it and my friend sitting here in your sins this morning don't go trying religions don't go ever searching never able to find the truth the truth is in him who is the fulfillment of all the scriptures all of the prophetic utterances concerning Messiah concerning God's only Savior but then the third thing we see about our Lord is this our Lord is a true man in all the events and circumstances that lead to his death now follow me closely I say this passage with its light thrown in from John's gospel demonstrates that our Lord is a true man in all the events and circumstances leading to his death he is in control yes he is in absolute commitment to scripture yes but he is not in control as some distant unattached uninvolved deity who is simply there bodily floating above the realities of the circumstances he is not wooden conforming to scripture in a

What the Passage Teaches About Our Blessed Lord: His True Humanity

61:21 mindless obedience do you remember do you remember what we read in John 13 turn back to it for a moment as he knows that the hour of his death is approaching John 12 27 now is my soul troubled he was experiencing deep agitation as he approached the coming horrors of Gethsemane and the deeper more mysterious horrors of Golgotha and he says my soul is troubled troubled to the point that in his humanity it might even be possible at this stage to pray father save me from this hour what shall I say the trouble is so deep the anguish so real there is an aversion shall I say father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour there is real struggle of soul now can you imagine the struggle of soul he must have felt he knew from the beginning it says who it was that should betray him but now for a period of time perhaps an hour or more his past he has been sitting and if Edersheim's suggestion is accurate and it fits as well or better than any other I encountered in my study if it is true that the disciple whom he

62:51 loved with unique love is to his right with his head on his bosom and our Lord is receiving on his right shoulder the fruit of his redemptive love John the beloved disciple bound to him in perceptive heart love and to his left is Judas he knew from the beginning who it was that should betray him have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil he said in John six he knows that Judas is already made his visit to the high priest and after an hour or two of sitting next to the man who has had the call to reach in to the dish of the various juices and to dip with him his soul can no longer stand the agitation and he breaks out and says I solemnly testify verily verily one of you shall betray me it's as though he said I've kept my left hand leaning on the cushion as long as I can now the time has come and he reaches over and he grabs the mask and he tears it away from Judas's face and said now you'll be seen for what you are his soul is troubled his soul is agitated

64:19 and you say pastor what does that say to us about our savior just this it should cause us to stand in amazement and wonder at such a salvation wrought by such a savior who not only moves knowingly voluntarily and scripturally to the cross but feel as a true man and as great as were the agonies of the tortures of his body that awaited him and he had no special nerve endings that would neutralize the sting and the bite of the thorns and the aching pain of the lictors lash upon his back or the torturous screaming pain of the nails through his hands it was the greater agonies and the tortures of a soul that would become the very marked place for all the arrows of the almighty a soul that would become an ocean bed to receive the very ocean of God's wrath against the sins of his people and my friends he felt it if his soul is troubled on the very anticipation of it in the intimacy of this

65:49 fellowship meal what must he have felt when all the arrows of God were let loose from his bow to change the imagery when all the pillows of wrath were poured over him to change it yet again when all the curses of a broken law came thundering down upon him here was holy manhood here was pure manhood here was spotless manhood but here was true manhood in all of its integrity child of God this is your savior oh how we should cry to love him more to serve him with greater singleness of heart and mind how we should cry to God that we would be able to perceive in his word all the contours of his loveliness that he may become more precious and dear to us with each passing day because he took all of this driven to the cross out of love for yourself and my sinner friend sitting here this morning this is the Jesus who alone can save you the one who voluntarily goes to death for sinners who goes according to the scriptures

Pastoral Application: Love for Christ and Urgency for Sinners

67:17 who goes with a true heart and real flesh a heart that is tortured and flesh that is torn sin is truly born in his body up to the tree and because it was born and he shouted tetelestai it stands accomplished my sinner friend I don't care where you've gone in the paths of your sin I don't care what horrible hell holds into which your wild heart has taken you what Jesus did upon the cross in the shedding of his blood for sinners and what he accomplished in his mighty resurrection answers to all of the demands of God's law against every one of your sins oh run to the savior you will find him to be not only the mighty savior who is God and able to save but you'll find him as the God man the one who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities tempted in all points like as we yet without sin and I urge you to run to him this morning God willing will hold off the other applications to next week I've said enough but I'm loath to close for one reason because I fear

68:45 that some of you are going to go out that door this morning and say so what like you've done a hundred times I'll tell you so what there came a time when Judas crossed the line and God may in his own sovereignty set today as the day for your line my friend you see you're trying to scare me you bet your boots I am but I'm not trying to scare you with bogeymen and hobgoblins that don't exist my friend God is not obligated to extend the voice of mercy to you one more day get off your high horse get on your face and cry out son of David have mercy upon and dear people of God that sin you rationalize about and you excuse and you've got all kinds of fancy names for it don't you see all the excuses stripped away when you look at your savior don't you see them stripped away when you see in every rationalization something of the spirit of Judas may God

70:15 grant having beheld our savior we'll love him and we'll trust him let us pray our father we thank you for the witness of the word of God to your beloved son we thank you oh Lord that he becomes living to us in the galleries of his own word and we pray that he shall be the living Christ to all of your people today that they may have their devotion and love to him deepened and purified and oh God for those who've trifled with your grace for so long will you not arrest them today we have no hopes or wild dreams that are persuasion can move them for we've been thinking of Judas who heard all the invitations of the son of God himself saw his miracles did miracles in his name and yet went to his own place oh God have mercy on poor dead deaf blind sinners give them sight and give them life that they may run to your dear son oh God seal your word to our hearts we pray

71:43 and may it bear eternal fruit to your praise and to our good amen